At least 33 people, most of them women and children, were killed and 26 injured in a stampede at Gandhi Maidan during Vijaya Dashmi celebrations on Friday. Panic stricken people ran amok in confusion after an electric pole snapped with a loud bang, leading many to believe a bomb had gone off.
In the melee and the darkness that followed due to power cut, which was soon after the effigies of Ravan, Kumbhakaran and Meghnad were burnt, heart-rending scenes of dead and injured being rushed to hospital were witnessed, perhaps even by Bihar chief minister Jitan Manjhi who was the chief guest at the function.
The stampede took place around 6.30pm when the crowd started leaving the venue. The incident happened near the Ram Goolam Chowk near the Exhibition Road turning.
Principal secretary (home) Amir Subhani said more than 100 people were injured with 33 killed and 26 in the emergency ward of the PMCH.
Patna Sadar SDM Amit Kumar told TOI the exact number of casualties was still not clear since many critically injured people were still being brought in at PMCH. The SDM, stationed at the gate of the hospital's emergency ward, said he was arranging to send the bodies to the mortuary for postmortem. The bodies will be handed over to relatives later in the night, he said.At PMCH's emergency ward, attendant Jainarayan Gupta said he saw at least 42 bodies outside the operation theatre. Savitri Devi of New Patna Bypass said her daughter had gone to Gandhi Maidan with her four children. She said her daughter told her that as she came out of the ground, people started running in panic and many fell on each other since the exit was narrow, resulting in high number of fatalities among women and children.
Rapid Action Force personnel cordoned off the PMCH, where many anxious relatives and friends of victims had reached. The relatives were not allowed inside the hospital premises. Till late on Friday, about 10,000 people had assembled around the hospital. Cops were called from all police stations in the district to keep crowds at bay from the hospital.
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