Six killed, 15 injured in Vijayawada temple stampede

At least six people were reportedly killed and 15 others were injured in a temple stampede at Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday morning.

The incident occurred when a large number of devotees thronged the Durga ghat near Kanakadurga Temple to perform prayers on the occasion of 'Bhavani Deeksha'.

According to police, devotees pushed each other to move ahead, which resulted in a stampede, in which five women and a child was killed.

The injured have been admitted to the local government hospital. The condition of one injured woman is stated to be serious.

Vijayawada MP L Rajgopal and MLA Devineni Rajasekhar met the injured in the hospital.

Blaming the temple authorities for the incident, State Endowment Minister J Ratnakar Rao has ordered a departmental inquiry.

The government has announced one lakh rupees ex-gratia payment for the kin of those killed and 10,000 for each of the injured. (ANI)