13 Hindu devotees killed in a stampede in Narayanganj near Dhaka
By Syeda Munawara Qazi
Dhaka, Bangladesh: Over 13 devotees killed in a stampede at Hindu ritual ceremony Astami Snan festival Narayanganj, 12 miles away from Dhaka.
According to initial reports, 13 devotees are confirmed dead while 20 have critical head injuries therefore total number of dead people can increase. Astama Snan Festival attracts over 1 million devotees in one week therefore nobody knows how many people have died in this stampede at early hours of Friday and only rough estimations are being given by people and the authorities.
According Bangladesh television, the incident took place at the banks of Narayanganj river but the reason of stampede is yet not known.
Giving an interview to the national television channel, the head of local police Mazrul Islam said that incident took place at annual religious bathing ritual in when thousands of Hindu devotees from Bangladesh, India and Nepal were taking bath.
It may be mentioned that the two-day annual Astami Snan Bangla is one of the most religious festival known as Astama Snan Festival of the Hindu community that is celebrated on many off shoot rivers of Brahmaputra.
The rituals of the holy bath started on the night of Thursday around 2 am and went till 3 am on Friday without any break and everybody wished to take a bath during this time, mostly at evening in dark. There are many popular Ghats including Lalita Sadhu Ghat, Annapurna Ghat, Raj Ghat, Mahatma Gandhi Ghat, Joy Kali Ghat, Premtoli Ghat and Rakkha Kali Ghat.
One eye witness told this correspondent that stampede took place in dark when thousands of devotees were trying to take bath before the time (3 am), resulting throbbing moment of people in and out of main paths. Witness said that dead are mostly aged people and number of dead people are just calculations because many of dead already floated away with water and actual number of dead will be clear once all ghats are checked and people are calculated by their group leaders. It may be mentioned that majority of people come in groups and their group leaders have their all record.
