Crowd crush at India’s Tirupati temple kills six as thousands seek entry

At least six people were killed and dozens injured as a crowd gathered in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, one of the country’s most visited Hindu holy sites.

When the crush occurred on Wednesday night, a sizable crowd gathered to collect free entrance tickets to the town’s Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple.

Six devotees have died as a result of the unfortunate incident. I pray to God to give peace to the departed souls”, Prem Kumar Jain, spokesman of the state’s ruling Telugu Desam Party, told reporters.

Devotees from all over India have been gathering for the temple’s 10-day festival, which begins on Friday, since early on Wednesday.

According to the state’s chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s office, the crowd pushed and yelled at the authorities, who had set up counters to distribute free tokens starting on Thursday to visit the nearly 2, 000-year-old temple.

In a post on X, Naidu said the deaths “grieved me intensely”.

The families of the deceased were expressed condolences by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

His office wrote on social media platform X that “my thoughts are with those who have lost their close and dear ones.”

Due to poor crowd control and safety practices, fatal accidents occur frequently at places of worship in India during major religious holidays.

Up to 121 people were killed in Hathras, a town in northern Uttar Pradesh, in July of last year during a Hindu religious gathering.

In a temple in the state of southern Kerala, a fireworks display that was prohibited for the Hindu New Year caused a massive explosion that claimed 112 lives in 2016.