Stampede at Kolkata Durga Puja Pandal Kills at Least 17

At least 17 people were killed and about 35 others were injured in a stampede at a Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata on Saturday evening, as heavy crowds pressed through an exit gate during rain. Reuters reported the death toll on Saturday, citing NDTV. Police said the stampede took place at about 7:40 p.m.

The crush happened at the Sarada Park pandal in Chorbagan, home of the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durga Puja, in the Girish Park police station area. "A stampede occurred at the exit gate of the Sarada Park (Chor Bagan) Puja Pandal in the Girish Park Police Station area due to heavy crowds of pandal visitors during rain," police said in a statement carried by the ANI news agency. Saturday was Saptami, one of the busiest days of Durga Puja, when crowds move through the city from one decorated pandal to the next until late at night.

Queues over an hour long

Hundreds of people had come to the Chorbagan pandal, a community puja that has drawn visitors for decades, to see the idol of the goddess Durga. It was raining, and visitors stood in long queues to get in. One witness said the wait to reach the idol was taking more than an hour, and getting out was just as hard. "The area was narrow, and the lines of people waiting to come out were long," the witness said.

Some early reports suggested that part of the exit gate structure gave way as people pushed forward in the rain. Police have not confirmed what set off the crush, and the organisers have been summoned to the police station to explain what happened.

35 people taken to one hospital

Police closed the pandal to visitors after the stampede and said about 35 injured people were rescued and taken to the Medical College Hospital in Kolkata. Sources in the northern division of Kolkata Police said the dead included 13 women and one child. Police issued a toll free helpline, 18003455678, for families looking for relatives who had not come home. Disaster management staff were sent to the site.

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and Chief Secretary Manoj Agarwal went to the hospital to check on the treatment of the injured, and the state health minister also visited. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the stampede "extremely distressing" in a post on X. "My thoughts are with those who have lost their loved ones. May the injured recover at the earliest," he said. Home Minister Amit Shah said he had cancelled his programmes in West Bengal planned for Sunday and would visit the injured in hospital instead. Former chief minister Mamata Banerjee said she was deeply shocked and saddened by the stampede and prayed for the recovery of the injured.

Durga Puja is the biggest festival of the year in West Bengal, and its community pandals draw very large crowds on the peak evenings of Saptami, Ashtami and Navami. Managing those crowds in narrow lanes, often in rain, is a standing test for police and puja committees every year. On Saturday night in Chorbagan, that test ended in the worst way.