Deadly Stampede at Hindu Shrine

A colorful festival in India turned into tragedy today when at least 145 worshippers, mostly women and children, were trampled or fell to their deaths in a panicked stampede at a religious shrine. Reuters has more:

"Hindu worshippers, chanting and singing hymns, were snaking up a 4-km (2.5-mile) trail leading to a hill-top temple in Himachal Pradesh state when the stampede occurred.

Police said the pilgrims might have panicked after heavy rains caused some loose stones from a retaining wall along the hilly trail to fall.

The pilgrims started fleeing down the slope, breaking an iron side railing and trampling falling women and children under their feet, said Daljit Singh Manhas, a senior police officer.

...Witnesses said people jumped over broken railings and bodies to save themselves. Children lost their grip on their mothers' hands and were crushed under the feet of scared pilgrims."

In the wake of the carnage, police found eight or 10 loosened stones that likely sparked the panic.