Even before the people of Telugu states are yet to recover from the Kurnool bus fire tragedy, another heart-wrenching news has struck in the form of a stampede at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Kasibugga temple of Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh. Unfortunately, the incident has left 9 devotees dead. Chief Minister and TDP president Chandrababu Naidu expressed deep sorrow and pain over the hapless stampede.
As per reports, devotees arrived in hordes at the temple for Darshanam on Saturday morning on the eve of Ekadashi during the auspicious Karthika masam. Due to overcrowding, chaos ensued and the situation broke out of control leading to collapse of railing and resulting in stampede in the queue lines. The deceased were mostly women devotees and the exact number of deaths is yet to be announced officially. Several devotees were reportedly injured and admitted to local hospital for treatment.
Chief Minister instructed officials to provide immediate medical care to the injured and directed local authorities and public representatives to oversee the relief measures at the temple. Additional police force has been immediately deployed to bring the situation under control. Officials are currently investigating the sequence of events that led to the stampede and are working to restore normalcy at the temple.
State Agriculture Minister and local MLA Kinjarapu Atchannaidu rushed to the spot after learning about the incident.
