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When this Gundcha reached the temple, this stampede took place in front of Lord Jagannath, Nandaghosh’s chariot.
Stamped is due to huge crowd in front of the chariot of Shri Gundcha Temple
In a tragic incident, at least three devotees were killed and more than 50 were injured after a stampede near the Sri Gundcha temple during the annual Rath Yatra in Puri, Odisha on Sunday.
The stampede Lord Jagannath, in front of the chariot of Nandaghosh, reached the Gundcha temple around 4-5 am on Sunday, Puri District Collector Siddharth S Swain quoted the news agency PTI.
When the three chariots reached their destination, a large crowd of devotees gathered, which gathered to see the deity, leading to the collapse of the crowd. As a result, many devotees fell over each other near the chariot wheels.
He said that the injured have been admitted to a nearby hospital, and the condition of six people is important.
The deceased has been identified as Basanti Sahu from Bolagarh in Korda district, Premkanti Mohanty, and Prabhati Das from Athantara village under Balatta block. The body has been sent for postmortem and an investigation is going on.
Local media said that the police system for mob control was insufficient on the spot.
Odisha Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan expressed his condolences and announced a high-level inquiry.
Talk to ANI On the phone, Harichandan said, “This is an unfortunate incident. We are paying attention to it. I have talked to the CM this morning. We are strictly taking action. The DGP has been sent on the spot. Three people have passed away. The incident is being investigated.
A Puri resident Swidin Kumar Panda slammed the management for the stampede. He said that a new way was created for VIP, and the common people were asked to get out of distance.
He said, “I was near the temple till 2-3 pm last night, but the management was not good. A new way was created for VIP, and the common people were asked to get out of the distance.
#Watch Puri, Odisha: Swadin Kumar Panda, a resident of Puri, says, “I was near the temple till 2-3 pm last night, but the management was not good. A new way was created for VIP, and the common people were asked to get out from a distance. People started coming out of the entrance … https://t.co/jfe36gldfu pic.twitter.com/6LN6348eoy– Annie (@ani) June 29, 2025
He further said that the traffic system was also not good, as many unauthorized passes came to the temple.
“The traffic system was also not good, as many unauthorized passes came to the temple. The administration did not control the crowd properly. The biggest problem was that there was a gate to exit. Many people died on the day of Rath Yatra.
A person who lost his wife in the stampede said, “When this incident happened, no one replied, neither fire officials, nor rescue teams, nor hospital teams. This is a pathetic incident that cannot be expressed …”
The incident has created fresh concern over mob management during major religious ceremonies.
According to the administration, more than 1 million people attended the two -day Rath Yatra ceremony. On Friday, on the first day of the journey, more than 1 million devotees participated, resulting in a significant crowd pressure. About 625 people allegedly fell ill near the chariot of Goddess Subhadra till late evening.
On Saturday too, many devotees saw falling ill despite a 10–20% decline in the size of the crowd compared to Friday. Officials said more than 650 devotees experienced health issues in the last 24 hours. At least 70 hospitals were admitted, and nine was important.
Other events
Meanwhile, in another incident, three young women died on the way to attend the Rath Yatra ceremony in Puri on Saturday, when they were run by bus on a highway connecting Bhubaneswar and coastal pilgrims to the city, police said.
The incident occurred on a bridge near Pipili when the three women, who were traveling on a two -wheeler, collided with a motorcycle, after which they fell on the road and came under the wheels of a government bus.
While two died on the spot, the third woman died due to her injuries while taking the Pipili Community Health Center.
Rath reach the destination
The chariots of Lord Balabhadra, Goddess Subhadra and Lord Jagannath arrived at their destination Gundcha temple a day after the commencement of the Rath Yatra on Saturday. It is believed that the Gundcha temple is considered to be the home of the ‘aunt’ of those gods who leave the Jagannath temple to visit their ‘aunt’s house’ every year. The Gundcha temple is located 2.6 km from the 12th century Jagannath Temple.
The deities will go to the main temple after nine days. The return Rath Yatra is called the ‘Bahuda Yatra’ which will take place on 5 July this year.
On Friday, “Between the mantras of”Jai Jagannath” And “Hari Bol“After beating the cymbals and blowing shells of trumpets and conch shells, the ‘Taldwaja’ chariot of Lord Balabhadra started rolling for the first time at 4:08 pm. After this, Goddess Subhadra’s ‘Darpadan’ chariot and finally were rolled with Lord Jagannath’s ‘Nandaghosh’.
Puri title Raja, Gajapati Maharaja Divya Singh Deb, began the chariot pulling, which demonstrated ‘Chhera Pahanara’ (sweeping of chariots) on the three chariots.
Wood horses of different colors were fitted on three chariots, before they were drawn by the devotees.
defense in depth
As spiritual enthusiasm, the entire city of Puri is placed under a multi -level security cover to ensure a safe and smooth conduct of the festival on a large scale, which attracts millions of devotees from all over the world.
Around 10,000 police personnel have been deployed throughout the city to manage the legs on a large scale during the Rath Yatra and to maintain law and order.
The Odisha police said that advanced arrangements including monitoring through Artificial Intelligence (AI) -Nabled cameras and drone monitoring have been made to handle a crowd of about 1.5 million devotees.
(With input from agencies)
Shobit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and international news. He is interested in day -day political matters in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Honors) degree from Ben …Read more
Shobit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and international news. He is interested in day -day political matters in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Honors) degree from Ben … Read more
- Place :
Puri, India, India
- first published:
