At least 10 Hindu pilgrims have been killed and 40 injured in a stampede Friday during the Astami Snan bathing ritual in the Old Brahmaputra River at Langalbandh in Narayanganj.
The annual religious ceremony, observed this year from precisely 5:48am Friday to 6:59am today, had received large numbers of visitors around the time of the accident at 9:15am. Of the 16 quays set up for bathers, Rajghat, near where the stampede took place, was considered the most auspicious.
Witnesses and law enforcement officials said a rumour that a bailey bridge, used by pilgrims to get to the Rajghat, was collapsing, set off a stampede that left 10 people dead.
Bina Chakrabarti of Patuakhali, who was on the bridge at the time, told the Dhaka Tribune that she saw some young people, who she said were trying to get the crowds to move more quickly, shouting that the bridge was collapsing.
The ensuing panic led to the stampede shortly afterwards, she said.
“If law enforcers and volunteers had been more active then the accident might not have happened,” she said.
Narayanganj Additional Superintendent of Police Mokhlesur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune: “That is not true. All of the police officers were active from the time the gathering began. If someone claims that police activity only increased after the accident, that is not true.”
Other witnesses also blamed the mismanagement of the approach and exit routes to the Rajghat for the deaths.
The Dhaka Tribune found that the approach road is nearly 12 feet wide while the bridge narrows to a width of 8 feet. A huge number of sandals were found lying on the road in the aftermath of the stampede.
Seven women and three men died in the tragedy.
They were identified as Suchita Rani, 70, of Patuakhali, Bhanu Mati, 50, of Noakhali, Kanan Shah, 50, of Daudkandi, Maloti Dash, 60, and her son Nitai Dash, 50, of Manikganj, Tulshi Debnath, 50, Bhagabati, 40, and her daughter Rahi, 28, of Dhaka, Ranjit Chandra, 55, of Comilla and Nukul Chandra, 55, of Gopalganj.
“We handed the bodies over to the victims' families with a compensation of Tk25,000 each,” Narayanganj Deputy Commissioner Anisur Rahman Miah told the Dhaka Tribune.
Ambulances were provided to send the bodies to the victims' native villages, he added.
The injured were being treated at nearby hospitals.
The pilgrimage area was covered with 16 closed circuit television cameras and four police watch towers.
Thirty-five medical camps, 70 tube wells and 16 women's changing rooms had been set-up by the organisers. Observers said the preparations were insufficient for an event that draws a minimum of 1.5 million participants every year and has been known to draw crowds of up to 2.5 million.
Witnesses said the river was full of water hyacinths, limiting the area available for bathers and compelling pilgrims to crowd available spaces.
Kishan, a relative of victims Vagabati and Rahi, told the Dhaka Tribune that the deceased were his aunt and cousin. They were trying to bathe at the Rajghat because of its greater holiness, he said.
Suruj Miah, a resident of the area for six decades, told the Dhaka Tribune that he had never before seen anything like Friday's stampede.
Asked, Bashu Dev Chakravarty, general secretary of the Langalbandh Snan Udjyapan Committee which organises the event, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The accident took place due to narrow space on the road and bridge. Nothing else.”
Allegations of irresponsibility of our volunteers have nothing to do with it, he said. A three-member probe body was formed to investigate the incident.
The committee will be headed by Local Government Division Deputy Director Ishrat Hossain Khan and will include Narayanganj Additional Deputy Commissioners Mahmudur Rahman Habib and Mizanur Rahman.
The committee is expected to submit its report on the incident within five days.
President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed their deep shock at the deaths of the pilgrims.