New Delhi (Web Desk/Agencies): At least 121 people, mostly women and children, were killed in a stampede at a crowded religious event in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras district, local officials said, the country's deadliest in more than a decade.
It was not immediately clear what caused the accident, which followed a ceremony by a Hindu guru known locally as Bhole Baba.
Local news reports quoted officials as saying that heat and suffocation in the tent may have been a factor. Subsequent video shows the structure collapsing.
"The incident happened when people were leaving the congregation at the end of the event due to excess baggage," witnesses and local officials told local television news channels.
As per the reports, the religious gathering was led by a local Hindu preacher in a tented, open-air venue with women chanting together and waving their hands above their heads.
The media reports revealed that devotees rushed to the exit to get a closer look while many prostrated on the ground to seek his blessings.
