India: Temple stampede death toll reaches 145

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Dozens of women and children were among 145 people who died when thousands of pilgrims stampeded at a remote mountaintop temple in northern India during celebrations to honor a Hindu goddess, police said. The devotees were attending a religious festival Sunday at the Naina Devi Temple in the Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh state. More than 60 of the dead were women and children, said senior police officer R. N. Dhoke. Earlier, police had put the death toll at 68, but victims that had tumbled down the mountain when a guard rail broke were discovered later, Dhoke said. Another 37 people were injured and in hospital. Tens of thousands of worshippers had flocked to the remote temple in the foothills of the Himalayas to celebrate Shravan Navratras, a nine-day festival that honors the Hindu goddess Shakrti, or divine mother.