Kolkata Durga Puja stampede: 17 dead, 25 injured as rain sets off crush outside a pandal

At least 17 people were killed and 25 injured in a stampede at a Durga Puja gathering in Kolkata, in India's West Bengal state, on Saturday night, AFP reported, carried by Dawn. A seven-year-old girl is among the dead.

What happened

Crowds were queueing outside a pandal, the temporary pavilions built for the Hindu festival, when it began to rain at night. A senior police officer told AFP that an announcement caused a commotion once the rain started, and the people waiting outside pushed and rushed forward; some fell and were trampled.

The West Bengal chief minister, named in the AFP report as Suvendu Adhikari, gave the casualty figures and said six bodies had been identified so far.

The festival

Durga Puja is the biggest festival in West Bengal, and Kolkata's pandals draw millions of visitors, with long queues outside the best-known ones late into the night.

What is not yet known

AFP's report did not name the pandal or give the exact time, and no compensation had been announced at the time of writing. We will update this story as officials release more details.

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