More than 20 people lost their lives in the unfortunate incident of stampede near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. A similar incident of stampede occurred in Andhra Pradesh during the Pushakarams last year. Both these incidents have once again highlighted the dangers that exist at such mass gatherings and how a small slip up can result in a tragedy. Data available with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) indicates that there have been a total of 3126 incidents of stampede in the country from 2001 to 2014 and 2421 people have lost their lives in these stampedes.

Year wise Trends (2001-2014)

More than 100 people lost their lives because of stampedes in 7 of these 14 years. The highest number of incidents occurred in 2009 (1532 incidents). But the highest number of lives were lost in 2011 (489 deaths). In 2011, more than 100 people lost their lives in each of the three states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu & Kerala. More than 400 people lost their lives in three different years namely 2008 (434 deaths), 2011 (489 deaths) & 2013 (400 deaths). The least numbers of deaths occurred in 2006 (18 deaths). The average number of deaths per year in the last 7 years (2008-2014) is almost three times the average number of deaths in the first 7 years (2001-2007).

Male Vs Female Deaths

In these 14 years, 1695 men and 721 women lost their lives in incidents of stampede. Except in 2005, more men lost their lives than women in each of the remaining 13 years. In 2005, 146 men lost their lives while 200 women lost their lives. In 2008, 358 men and 76 women lost their lives. In 2011, 412 men and 77 women lost their lives.

State wise Trends

Maharashtra with 368 deaths accounted for the maximum number of deaths in these 14 years closely followed by Andhra Pradesh with 359 deaths. More than 100 people lost their lives in eleven (11) states during this period. Tamil Nadu (231 deaths), Rajasthan (216 deaths) and Madhya Pradesh (213 deaths) are part of the top five in the list of deaths due to stampedes.

Major Incidents of Stampede

Maharashtra (2005): The Mandher Devi temple stampede occurred in January 2005, in Satara district of Maharashtra. More than 300 people lost their lives.
Rajasthan (2008): A stampede occurred in September 2008, at the Chamunda Devi temple in Jodhpur in Rajasthan. More than 200 people lost their lives.
Himachal Pradesh (2008): The Naina Devi temple stampede occurred in August 2008 in Himachal Pradesh. More than 100 people lost their lives.
Kerala (2011): The Sabarimala stampede occurred in January 2011, at Sabarimala in Kerala. More than 100 people lost their lives.
Madhya Pradesh (2013): This stampede occurred during the festival of Navratri, near the Ratangarh Mata Temple in Madhya Pradesh. More than 100 people lost their lives.