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Two days before the Vaikuntha Ekadasi festival was set to begin at Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple on Andhra Pradesh's Tirumala Hills, large crowds descended at over 90 ticket counters set up for the festival.
Arrangements were in place for the distribution of 1,20,000 tokens to devotees for the "sarva darshan" (free darshan) of Lord Venkateshwara Swamy for the first three days of the annual darshan on January 10 to 12.
Darshan tokens for the 10-day festival were to be handed from 5 am on Thursday, but thousands of people gathered a night before at counters set up by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which oversees temple operations.
The distribution arrangements were made at 94 counters at three pilgrim lodges - Vishnu Nivasam, Srinivasam and Bhudevi complexes, besides other places like Satyanarayanapuram, Bairagipatteda and Ramanaidu school in Tirupati, officials said.
Tirupati Municipal Commissioner N Moruya said the situation went out of control at the counter set up at MGM High School in Bairagipatteda, near the Vishnu Nivasam temple. Around 4,000-5,000 people thronged the counter from Wednesday morning. By the evening, the crowd became unruly, leading to pushing and jostling.
According to BR Naidu, chairman of TTD, when a gate was opened to assist a woman feeling unwell, the crowd surged forward all at once, leading to chaos.
Lack of adequate arrangements to manage the crowds resulted in a stampede late Wednesday evening, in which at least six devotees died and over 40 were were injured. Tirupati Collector S Venkateswar told News Agency that it took around 15 minutes to control evacuate the crowd.
The festival allows devotees to pray to the deity Lord Venkateswara from the northern entrance of the temple.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his thoughts were with those who lost their "near and dear ones". Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi urged Congress workers to provide all possible assistance in this difficult time.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu condoled the incident, saying it "deeply disturbed" him. "The death of several devotees in a stampede near Vishnu Niwasam in Tirupati for tokens to visit Tirumala Srivari Vaikuntha Dwara has shocked me. This tragic incident, which took place at a time when devotees had gathered in large numbers for tokens, deeply disturbed me," Chandrababu Naidu wrote in a post in Telugu on X.