India / Stampede at Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan on ocassion of new year 2022

Twelve people are reported to have died in a stampede at Mata Vaishno Devi temple on New Year's Eve. Police in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir said that at present, relief and rescue operations are going on and the situation is under control. Some videos of the stampede have been released on social media. In these, it is being claimed that on the occasion of New Year, a large number of devotees had reached for the darshan of the mother. Meanwhile, a stampede broke out. Due to this many devotees are returning without having darshan. The deceased include devotees from Delhi, Haryana, Punjab.

Block Medical Officer Dr. Gopal Dutt said, “Twelve people have died in the stampede at Mata Vaishno Devi temple. Till now the exact figure has not come out. The post-mortem of the dead is to be done. Apart from this, the injured have been shifted to Narayana Hospital for treatment. So far 14 injured have been admitted to the hospital for treatment. Jammu and Kashmir DGP Dilbag Singh said that the incident happened at 2:45 am. He said that in the initial reports, we have come to know that there was an argument between some people and a situation of scuffle broke out. After this people started running, due to which this accident happened.

Close to 80 thousand devotees had reached, the limit was not fixed

Jagdev Singh, duty officer of Vaishno Devi temple complex said that one of the dead is a resident of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir. Apart from this, 11 other people are from different states of the country. So far 7 people have been identified from the dead. Efforts are on to identify 5 others. He said that at present the journey from Ardhkuwari, Banganga has been stopped. He said that a large number of devotees had gathered on New Year's Eve. About 70 to 80 thousand devotees had reached the temple for worship. A local shopkeeper said that the number of devotees had not been fixed by the Shrine Board. He said that not many devotees can stay in Trikuta Hills. In such a situation, he should have stopped at Katra base camp and fixed his limit.

Many of the injured are in critical condition

The condition of many of the injured people is also critical. At present, 14 injured have been admitted to Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Superspeciality Hospital for treatment. Police Control Room of Reasi said that rescue and relief work is going on. At present the situation is under control. Representatives of Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and many senior administrative officers have reached the spot.