Ten feared dead in Bihar stampede

Patna : Police is verifying claims that more than ten devotees have been killed and many injured in a stampede during Navratri celebration at a Durga temple in Bihar’s Banka district midnight Saturday.

Police said the locals and rescuers have been looking for the whereabouts after some holiday makers claimed that their relatives had gone missing after a stampede at a shrine of Tildiha village.

Some 40,000 to 45,000 devotees assembled to offer prayers, district magistrate Adesh Chitrmare said.

He said upto now ten deaths have been reported. The victims were yet to be identified.

The district authorities have ordered an inquiry into the cause of the stampede.

The injured have been taken to some local hospital where seven people were stated to critical.

Preliminary reports suggested the temple under Sambhuganj police station had been offering goats to be sacrificed before the Goddess Durga, Bihar’s DGP Neelman said.