Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh, who visited the stampede site, said that out of the 116 people who died, 108 were women, seven children and one man. Of these, 72 people have been identified so far, he said.
He reassured the public that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is closely monitoring the situation. Chaitra V, Commissioner Aligarh says, ‘So far the death toll is 87 and the number of injured is 18 and they are out of danger’.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed sorrow over the stampede in Hathras and announced Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia for the next of kin of the dead and Rs 50,000 for the injured.
The stampede occurred during a religious congregation at a ‘satsang’ event in Uttar Pradesh’s Pulrai village where a large number of people had gathered.
The overwhelming number of patients exhausted the medical college’s capacity, forcing authorities to request beds from private hospitals, said Rajesh Kumar, Senior Superintendent of Police, Etah. Relief and rescue operations are ongoing on a war footing.
An estimated 15,000 people attended the satsang. The exact cause of the stampede remains unclear, but most fatalities resulted from suffocation, according to police.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has formed an inquiry team, including the additional director general, Agra Zone, and police commissioner, Aligarh, to investigate the causes of the Hathras stampede. Bhole Baba, a former government employee from Bahadur Nagri village, has been active in the region for nearly 27 years, organizing religious gatherings and preaching.
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