At least seven people were killed and 75 others injured when a wooden stage collapsed during a ‘Laddu Mahotsav’ in northern India to mark the ‘Abhishek’ of the Jain god Adinath, the Deccan Herald reported on Wednesday (January 29).
The incident took place in Baghpat district, north of the capital New Delhi, on Tuesday (January 28), local time, according to the report. Hundreds of Jain devotees had gathered at a temple to offer sweets, a local official said.
Regarding the incident, Baghpat district magistrate Asmita Lal said that seven people died and 75 were injured when a wooden stage collapsed. She added that 30 of them were sent home after receiving first aid.
The NDTV news network reported that this wooden stage is set up every year during the festival to mark the release of the Jain god Adinath. Rakesh Jain, a devotee, said the wooden stage collapsed with hundreds of devotees on it as priests went on stage to distribute laddus (sweets).
Major religious festivals in India are often marred by fatal accidents due to poor crowd management and safety lapses.
Last year, a stampede at a religious gathering in Uttar Pradesh killed 121 people. In 2016, a massive explosion during a banned firework display at a temple in the southern state of Kerala killed another 112 people.
