OVER 116 SATSANGIS KILLED IN STAMPEDE IN UP'S HATHRAS

Victims were part of satsang by preacher Bhole Baba; incident took place while Baba was leaving

Bodies lay scattered at a medical centre in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district on Tuesday as people milled around them, wiping away tears and consoling one another.

The victims were part of the crowd of thousands that had gathered near Phulrai village in the Sikandrarau area for the ‘satsang’ by religious preacher Bhole Baba. The stampede took place at around 3.30 pm when Baba was leaving the venue.

The heartbreaking scenes unfolded outside the district’s Sikandara Rao Trauma Centre, where victims, dead or unconscious, of the stampede were brought in ambulances, trucks and cars.

A woman sat crying among five or six bodies in a truck, urging people to help her get the body of her daughter out of the vehicle. A video clip showed a man and a woman lying lifeless in a different vehicle.