DHAKA: At least 10 Hindu pilgrims were killed and dozens more were injured in a stampede outside the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Friday, police and witnesses said.

The stampede occurred on the banks of the Brahmaputra river, where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had converged for ritual bathing during an annual Hindu festival.

Police inspector Nasir Ahmed said seven women and three men had been confirmed dead.

“We are investigating what triggered the stampede, but it seems that the tragedy was due to an unusually high number of pilgrims”, Ahmed said. “The stampede involved a huge number of people as thousands of shoes could still be seen on the road an hour after it happened”, he added.

Witnesses said at least 50 people were injured in the stampede at the annual Astami Snan festival, which attracts pilgrims from around Bangladesh as well as Nepal and India.

They said most of the victims were elderly and blamed the tragedy on the lack of guards on the banks of the river in Langalbandh, around 25 kilometres south of Dhaka where the pilgrims gather at dawn to bathe. “There were no policemen maintaining security,” said one witness, Laxmi Rana Saha, 45.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2015

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