Kolkata Durga Puja Stampede Kills 17, Injures 25
At least 17 people were killed and 25 others injured on Saturday in Kolkata after a stampede, likely triggered by sudden rainfall, at a Durga Puja gathering in eastern India, Dawn reported.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendhu Adhikari confirmed the deaths, saying the victims included a seven-year-old girl. Six bodies had been identified.
How the Kolkata Durga Puja stampede happened
A senior police official at the scene told AFP that an announcement caused “commotion” after it started raining at night. The crowd waiting outside the pandal, the pavilion built for the festival, began pushing, pulling and rushing forward, then fell to the ground, triggering the stampede.
Emergency teams reached the site as the injured were pulled from the crush. The 25 injured were taken to nearby hospitals, where several were said to be in serious condition.
Pandals in Kolkata routinely draw thousands of visitors in a single evening, and the queues outside the most popular pavilions can stretch for hundreds of metres, which is why crowd surges there turn dangerous so quickly.
A grim pattern at Indian mass gatherings
Deadly crowd incidents recur at Indian mass events, where poor management and safety lapses turn celebrations into tragedies.
In August, a stampede at a Hindu temple in Bihar killed at least seven people and injured 19. Last year, 30 people died in a stampede at India’s Kumbh Mela religious fair, 11 fans were crushed in Bengaluru during celebrations for the local cricket team’s first Indian Premier League title, and 36 people were killed in a stampede at a campaign rally of an actor-turned-politician in Tamil Nadu. In 2024, 121 people were killed in northern Uttar Pradesh during a Hindu religious gathering.
The Kolkata toll makes Saturday’s crush one of the deadliest such incidents of the year.
What is Durga Puja?
Durga Puja is one of the biggest Hindu festivals in West Bengal, drawing enormous crowds to elaborately built pandals across Kolkata. The festival honours the goddess Durga and typically sees millions of visitors over several days, putting huge pressure on crowd-control arrangements around the most popular pavilions.
FAQs
How many died in the Kolkata stampede?
At least 17 people were killed and 25 injured, according to West Bengal’s chief minister. The dead include a seven-year-old girl, and six bodies had been identified.
What caused the stampede?
Police said sudden rainfall during the night led to an announcement that caused commotion. The crowd outside the pandal pushed forward and people fell, triggering the crush.
When did it happen?
On Saturday night, October 17. The deaths were confirmed in the early hours of Sunday, October 18.
Have such stampedes happened before in India?
Yes. Recent incidents include a Bihar temple stampede in August that killed seven, the Kumbh Mela crush that killed 30, 11 deaths in Bengaluru, 36 at a Tamil Nadu rally, and 121 killed at a 2024 religious gathering in Uttar Pradesh.
