Why Stampedes Keep Repeating in India: Lessons from 2025 Tragedies

Stampedes Latest News

• At least nine people, including children, were killed in a stampede at the Venkateswara Swamy temple in Kasibugga, Srikakulam district, on November 1, during Ekadashi celebrations.
• This marks the third major stampede in Andhra Pradesh this year. Earlier, seven people died in April at Visakhapatnam’s Simhachalam temple after a wall collapse during Akshaya Tritiya, and six were killed in January at Tirupati while queuing for special darshan tickets.
• Across India, such stampedes at temples, religious festivals, and public gatherings have claimed around 100 lives in 2025 alone, pointing to persistent lapses in crowd management and safety planning.

Stampedes in 2025: From Victory Rallies to Holy Gatherings

• Bengaluru IPL Victory Parade Turns Fatal – In June 2025, a victory celebration for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) near Chinnaswamy Stadium turned tragic when a stampede killed at least 12 people.
• Religious Processions End in Tragedy – In May, a religious yatra at Goa’s Shree Lairai Devi Temple in Shirgaon village saw a stampede that killed several devotees.
  • Similarly, in January, at least 30 pilgrims died and over 60 were injured during the Mauni Amavasya bath at the Kumbh in Prayagraj, where poor crowd control was cited as a key factor.
• Railway Station Rush Adds to Toll – In February, another major tragedy struck when 18 people died and dozens were injured at the New Delhi Railway Station.
  • The stampede occurred late at night as Kumbh pilgrims tried to board a crowded Prayagraj-bound train.

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Understanding Why Stampedes Occur

• As per the crowd dynamics experts, people in dense crowds often don’t realise danger until it’s too late.
• Crowd behaviour is shaped by non-verbal cues like body language, and emotions spread through observation rather than panic contagion. 
• In densely packed spaces, where personal space is limited (as in India), reaction time shortens, increasing the risk of sudden collapses.

The Deadly Domino Effect

• In most stampedes, the main cause of death is compressive asphyxia — when pressure on the chest and ribs prevents people from breathing.
• Once someone stumbles and falls, others trip over them, creating a domino effect that leads to pile-ups and trampling.

Why Prevention Fails

• Stampedes turn deadly when authorities underestimate crowd size, fail to anticipate localised crushes, or lack quick-response protocols.
• A tightly packed crowd, without controlled entry and exit routes, becomes a ticking time bomb, where one small disturbance can spiral into mass casualties within seconds.

Preventing Stampedes: Lessons India Must Learn

• According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report “Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India,” between 2000 and 2022, 3,074 people lost their lives in stampedes across the country.
• Over the past three decades, nearly 4,000 stampede incidents have been recorded, with the NCRB systematically collecting such data since 1996.

Global Comparison

• Stampedes are not unique to India. For instance, in 2022, a Halloween celebration in South Korea turned deadly, and in 2010, Germany’s Love Parade festival saw a similar tragedy.
• However, unlike in India, such incidents rarely recur abroad because authorities quickly learn lessons and introduce strict safety protocols to prevent repetition.

Why India Fails to Improve

• India’s large population gatherings, combined with a frequent disregard for safety norms and crowd control rules, make it far more vulnerable.
• The issue is not just administrative but deeply societal — marked by poor enforcement, lack of accountability, and a casual public attitude toward rules — allowing tragedies to repeat year after year despite mounting casualties.

Source: IE | TH | ToI