1 dead, nearly 100 injured in crush at India chariot festival

A sudden crowd surge at a popular Hindu festival in eastern India’s Odisha state on Thursday left at least one person dead and many sent to hospital, a news agency reported.

The incident occurred as tens of thousands of people gathered in the coastal town of Puri for the annual Rath Yatra chariot festival, according to the Press Trust of India.

The festival is considered one of the world’s oldest and largest religious processions.

The centuries-old festival involves the idols of Hindu deities being taken out of the Jagannath Temple and carried through the streets in colourfully decorated chariots.

Videos from the scene showed injured devotees being carried to hospitals as shoes, bags and other belongings were left strewn across the area in the aftermath of the incident.

Odisha police said in a social media post that rescue teams provided first aid and oxygen to 33 people before transferring them to nearby hospitals.