At least 15 people were killed on Monday in two separate incidents in eastern India while paying homage to the Hindu deity Shiva during the holy month of Shravan, officials said.
Gatekeepers News reports that eight people died in a hotel fire in Tarapith, West Bengal State, while seven others were killed in a stampede at the Ashok Dham temple in neighbouring Bihar.
The victims of the hotel fire had travelled to Tarapith to offer prayers on the final Monday of Shravan, a sacred month dedicated to Shiva that attracts large numbers of Hindu worshippers.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari expressed condolences to the families of those killed in the fire.
“Words cannot adequately express the grief I feel for the families who have lost their loved ones,” Adhikari said in a statement.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
In Bihar, seven pilgrims were crushed to death and 19 others sustained injuries after a stampede broke out at the Ashok Dham temple in Lakhisarai district.
District Magistrate Shailendra Kumar told AFP that the stampede was triggered by rumours that an electric pole had fallen on devotees inside the temple premises.
Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary described the incident as “heart-wrenching” and announced compensation of 400,000 rupees ($4,180) for the family of each victim.
Deadly stampedes are relatively common at major gatherings and religious festivals in India, often linked to inadequate crowd management and the large number of people attending such events.
One of the country’s deadliest recent crowd disasters occurred in 2024 in Uttar Pradesh, where 120 people were killed during a religious gathering attended by tens of thousands of devotees.
