‘Pahandi’ procession, choked Grand Road : What triggered crowd scare at Puri Rath Yatra

Rescue personnel could be seen escorting distressed devotees to waiting ambulances while security forces worked to prevent further congestion amid the surging crowd.

PURI: A temporary crowd surge during the annual Rath Yatra in Odisha’s Puri left one devotee dead and more than 100 others requiring rescue and medical attention on Thursday, raising fresh concerns over crowd management a year after a deadly stampede during the festival.According to news agency PTI, one person died during the crowd surge, while another devotee died of a cardiac arrest in an unrelated incident.The scale of the crowd was evident on the Grand Road, where devotees packed every available inch around the chariots and the Singhadwara area.Thousands stood shoulder to shoulder, leaving barely any space to move as emergency responders struggled to carve out a narrow passage for ambulances through the sea of pilgrims.Rescue personnel could be seen escorting distressed devotees to waiting ambulances while security forces worked to prevent further congestion amid the surging crowd.Earlier in the day, news agency ANI reported that emergency rescue teams evacuated multiple devotees on stretchers after an overwhelming surge of pilgrims gathered near the Singhadwara, the main entrance of the Jagannath Temple.Security personnel and rescue workers rushed those suffering from suffocation and exhaustion to temporary hospitals and ambulances as the crowd swelled around the chariots.Inspector General of Fire Services Umashankar Dash said the heavy rush on the Grand Road (Bada Danda), where the chariots travel to the Shree Gundicha Temple, triggered the emergency response.“So far, we have rescued almost 100 people who felt suffocated in the crowd. We have taken them to temporary hospitals and ambulances. That has given relief to devotees,” Dash told reporters.The incident occurred as lakhs of devotees gathered to witness the Rath Yatra and the Pahandi ritual, during which Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath were ceremonially brought out of the sanctum sanctorum and placed on their respective chariots before the procession began.The crowd surge comes less than a year after three people were killed and several others injured in a stampede near the Gundicha Temple during the previous Rath Yatra.Reacting to Thursday’s incident, BJD president and opposition leader Naveen Patnaik expressed grief over the “loss of lives” and wished a speedy recovery to the injured. He also urged the state government to ensure proper crowd management and devotee safety.What led to the stampede-like situation