At least 17 people were killed in a stampede during a Hindu religious event in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata on Saturday, officials said, the latest episode in a persistent public safety problem for India.
At least 25 people were also injured at the gathering, an annual celebration of the Hindu goddess Durga, according to Samik Bhattacharya, the president of the ruling party in the state, West Bengal.
In India, fatal stampedes during religious events are relatively common, often because of poor enforcement of public safety measures. In one of the deadliest in recent years, more than 100 people were killed in 2013 in the north-central state of Madhya Pradesh during a procession.
It was unclear what caused the stampede on Saturday in Kolkata. Local officials told Indian news outlets that a crowd of devotees gathered outside a ceremonial pavilion built to worship the goddess had rushed forward after it began to rain.
The state’s chief minister, Suvendu Adhikari, told local news media that a loudspeaker announcement by the event’s organizers may have contributed to the rush.
Mr. Bhattacharya said at a news conference late on Saturday that the police had detained the event’s organizer, members of a private security agency hired for crowd control and the police officers on-duty at the event as they investigated what went wrong. Mr. Bhattacharya heads the state’s ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party, which also leads the national government.
The deaths on Saturday came amid a five-day festival called the Durga Puja. The mass worship event swells Kolkata, as hundreds of thousands of devotees flock to hundreds of pavilions like the one where the deadly stampede happened.
Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, offered his condolences to the victims of the stampede in a statement. The state government of West Bengal announced it would provide victims’ families with financial compensation and government jobs.
Amit Shah, India’s powerful home minister, said the stampede was “extremely heartbreaking,” and that he would pray to Goddess Durga for the swift recovery of the injured.
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