Terror, 'chaos' as India stampede kills 121 worshippers

Slippers are pictured where a stampede killed at least 121 people at a religious gathering in Uttar Pradesh state, India, July 3, 2024. [AFP]

Survivors of India's deadliest stampede in over a decade has recalled the horror of being crushed at a vastly overcrowded Hindu religious gathering that left 121 people dead.

A police report said more than 250,000 people attended the event in northern India's Uttar Pradesh state, more than triple the 80,000 organisers had permission for.

On Wednesday morning, hours after the event, discarded clothing and lost shoes were scattered across the muddy site, an open field alongside a highway.

People fell on top of each other as they tumbled down a slope into a water-logged ditch, witnesses said.

"Everyone –- the entire crowd, including women and children –- all left from the event site at once," said police officer Sheela Maurya, 50, who had been on duty Tuesday as a popular Hindu preacher delivered a sermon.

"There wasn't enough space, and everyone just fell on top of each other."

Almost all of the dead were women, along with seven children killed and one man.

Some fainted from the force of the crowd, before falling and being trampled upon, unable to move.

The Uttar Pradesh's state disaster management centre, the Office of the Relief Commissioner, released a list of the dead on Wednesday morning.

It said 121 people had been killed.

'Crushed'

Maurya, who had been on duty since early morning on Tuesday in the sweltering humid heat at the preacher's ceremony, was among the injured.

"I tried to help some women, but even I fainted and was crushed under the crowd," she told AFP.

"I don't know, but someone pulled me out, and I don't remember much."