Hyderabad, January 3
Tragedy struck at the Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada when six people, including four women and an eight-year-old boy, were killed and 15 others injured in a stampede in the early hours today.

The stampede occurred at 4.30 am on a narrow ghat road leading to the shrine on Indrakeeladri hillock, overlooking Krishna river, when thousands of pilgrims surged towards the temple for a morning darshan, the city police commissioner C.V. Anand said.

The condition of at least three of the injured, admitted to a government hospital, was stated to be serious.

Over one lakh devotees had congregated on the hill on the occasion of the conclusion of the annual “Bhavani Deeksha” ritual.

The mishap occurred as several of them jostled and pushed each other in a bid to surge towards the temple for a darshan of the goddess Kanaka Durga.

The police blamed the temple authorities for failing to make adequate arrangements for the smooth movement of devotees.

“There is only one way road leading to the shrine. This was choked with devotees leading to the chaos. We had warned the temple authorities on several occasions about lack of proper arrangements but no precautions were taken,” said Anand.

The state endowments minister J. Ratnakar Rao announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh for the kin of the dead and Rs 10,000 for the injured. He also announced a departmental probe by the endowments commissioner into the incident.

The Kanaka Durga temple attracts a large number of devotees from all over Andhra Pradesh and also other states.