NEW DELHI — Thousands of pilgrims in northern India panicked Sunday when they thought the narrow bridge they were crossing was collapsing, Indian officials said. The resulting stampede left at least 109 people dead and about a hundred more injured.
About a half-million worshipers, by Indian news media estimates, had flocked to the Ratangarh Temple in northern Madhya Pradesh state for a religious festival.
A top state official, Anthony J.C. De Sa, told The Hindu, a daily newspaper, that when a section of the bridge’s railing broke, setting off a rumor that the whole bridge was about to give way.
Television images of the scene afterward showed piles of clothing littering the bridge. Many people are believed to have drowned after jumping off the bridge into the river; others were injured in the crush above.
In the aftermath of the panic, relief efforts were delayed by traffic jams, and frustrated bystanders later turned on the police, pelting them with stones. A deadly stampede took place at the same site in 2006.
There were conflicting reports about the start of the crush Sunday. Some witnesses said the police had initiated it by charging into the crowd swinging canes, but police officials denied the reports.
Others said a group of pilgrims had intentionally spread a rumor that the bridge was about to collapse, in the hope of cutting the long line of people waiting to cross....
Mass deaths occur often at pilgrimages in India, when vast, dense crowds put heavy burdens on transportation and safety infrastructure. In August, an express train was unable to stop and plowed into pilgrims crossing a set of train tracks in the state of Bihar, killing more than 30 people. A similar number were trampled rushing to a train platform in February, marring the 55-day Kumbh Mela festival, whose crowds were estimated at 80 million.
Related:
The stampede Sunday occurred during the run-up to state elections. Officials quickly promised compensation of about $2,450 for the families of each of those killed. Those with serious injuries will receive about $820. The state also has ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident.
That is how much an Indian's life is worth?
About 500,000 people had gone to the remote Ratangarh village temple in Madhya Pradesh to honor the Hindu mother goddess Durga on the last day of the popular 10-day Navaratra festival, according to local press reports.
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You got a place to stay?
"Building collapse in India kills 47" by Rafiq Maqbool and Chonchui Ngashangva | Associated Press, April 06, 2013
MUMBAI, India — A residential building being constructed illegally on forest land in a suburb of India’s financial capital collapsed into a mound of steel and concrete, killing at least 47 people and injuring 70 others, authorities said Friday.
The eight-story building in the Mumbai suburb of Thane caved in Thursday evening, police said. Rescue workers with sledgehammers, gasoline-powered saws, and hydraulic jacks struggled Friday to break through the tower of rubble in their search for possible survivors. Six bulldozers were brought to the scene....
At the time of the collapse, between 100 and 150 people were in the building. Many were residents or construction workers, who were living at the site as they worked on it, said Sandeep Malvi, a spokesman for the Thane government....
Maybe it is time to get out of India:
"Bus falls into gorge, killing 52 people
"Bus falls into gorge, killing 52 people
NEW DELHI — An overcrowded bus fell into a deep gorge in a mountainous area of northern India on Saturday, killing 52 people and injuring 46 others, police said. The driver lost control of the vehicle on a sharp curve in Himachal Pradesh state, police officer Raj Kumar said. The bus then fell more than 300 feet into the gorge, Kumar said (AP)."
Related: 18 on Indian submarine feared dead
"India police fire at nuclear protesters, killing 1" Associated Press, September 11, 2012
Related: 18 on Indian submarine feared dead
"India police fire at nuclear protesters, killing 1" Associated Press, September 11, 2012
CHENNAI, India — Police fired on protesters Monday near a nuclear power plant being constructed in southern India, killing one person, officials said....
Construction of the plant has been delayed by protests in the past year by residents and antinuclear groups concerned about safety following the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in Japan last year....
Related: Finishing Friday With Fukushima
They should be concerned.
Related: Finishing Friday With Fukushima
They should be concerned.
In Jerusalem on Monday, a group of survivors from the Hiroshima atomic bomb attack held a protest calling for an end to nuclear weapons. The group visited Jerusalem holy sites and held signs reading ‘‘Nuclear Abolition’’ in Japanese.
In 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, leading to Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II. The blast destroyed most of the city and killed as many as 140,000 people.
Hiroshima survivor Nagayama Iwao, 69, said that ‘‘any use of the atom [bomb] should be forbidden, even for intimidation.’’
The visit comes amid growing tensions between Israel and Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
Israel and much of the West believe Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.
An Israeli official said Monday that Washington’s refusal to issue an ultimatum to Iran over its nuclear program brings Tehran closer to producing an atomic bomb.
Israel has been pushing for the international community to give Iran ‘‘clear red lines’’ with regard to the disputed program.
Yeah, somehow the jewspaper managed to work war against Iran into this.
Yeah, somehow the jewspaper managed to work war against Iran into this.
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"India executes last gunman involved in Mumbai attacks" by Gardiner Harris | New York Times, November 22, 2012
NEW DELHI — Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman from the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai that left 166 people dead, was hanged Wednesday in a surprise action that analysts in both India and Pakistan said was unlikely to derail improving ties.
Why would it?
Related: No Mercy For Mumbai Patsy
Why would it?
Related: No Mercy For Mumbai Patsy
Kasab was one of 10 young men who hijacked an Indian fishing boat, killed its captain, took a rubber dinghy into Mumbai, and then systematically attacked high-end hotels, a train station, a hospital, and a Jewish community center over the course of three chaotic days. The 10 were members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani-based terrorist group, and their actions were directed by phone by people in Pakistan. Nine of the attackers were killed by Indian forces, and their bodies were buried in an undisclosed location. Only Kasab survived.
That's the official story anyway.
That's the official story anyway.
Pictures of Kasab wearing a black shirt and carrying an automatic weapon played on Indian television channels all day Wednesday, where the execution received blanket coverage. By contrast, news channels in Pakistan gave it considerably less attention, and the Pakistani government offered no official statement.
Tariq Fatemi, a retired Pakistani senior diplomat, said some extremist groups would be angered by the hanging but that many other Pakistanis, including senior government officials, had been ‘‘deeply embarrassed’’ by Kasab and the Mumbai attacks.
Fatemi predicted that the hanging would do little to slow improving ties between the two countries.
“There is a virtual consensus among Pakistan’s mainstream political parties on the importance of keeping the process on the rails and even promoting it,’’ said Fatemi.
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Related:
Antisuperstition activist gunned down in India
19 dead in sectarian riots in India
Sectarian riots spread in north India, 31 dead
12 killed in twin bomb blasts in southern India
Blasts at Buddhist sites in east India injure 2
Suspected rebels kill 24 in India
Indian court convicts former official in deadly 2002 riots
An American accent
Antisuperstition activist gunned down in India
19 dead in sectarian riots in India
Sectarian riots spread in north India, 31 dead
12 killed in twin bomb blasts in southern India
Blasts at Buddhist sites in east India injure 2
Suspected rebels kill 24 in India
Indian court convicts former official in deadly 2002 riots
An American accent
"1 in 6 in India’s cities lives in slums" by Kay Johnson | Associated Press, March 23, 2013
MUMBAI, India — About one in six Indian city residents lives in an urban slum with unsanitary conditions that are ‘‘unfit for human habitation,’’ according to the first complete census of India’s vast slum population.
If Gandhi were aware of that his heart would break. Poverty, he always said, was the worst form of violence.
More than 40 percent of households in Mumbai, India’s financial capital and largest city with 19 million people, are located in overcrowded shantytowns where most residents have little access to basic sanitation. While the report described open sewers and poverty, it also shows that many slum residents have cellphones and televisions and have made do with a lack of government infrastructure by rigging up elaborate, mostly illegal, systems to supply electricity....
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