Photo: Gyanendra_Singh_Chau… / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
Twelve people were killed and dozens were hurt when a truck loaded with paddy careered down a slope and ran into a crowd of devotees near the Sheetla Mata temple outside Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh at about 1.30 am on Sunday, police said. The truck flattened roadside stalls, hit pilgrims walking to the shrine and then slammed into the temple’s outer wall and entrance gate, bringing part of the gateway down on people below.
What happened on the slope
Large crowds from Gwalior and nearby districts had gathered at the temple on Saturday night for Saptami, the seventh day of Navratri. Because of the rush, heavy vehicles had been barred from the road that runs down to the temple from the Chhinor side, which has a steep gradient. Police said the truck was stopped at the barricade there, but it broke through, lost control on the descent and kept veering to the left before it struck the crowd.
According to police, five to six prasad stalls were wrecked and around 40 people were hit. Rescue teams and police pulled out those trapped under the truck and the fallen section of wall. One eyewitness, whose brother was among the injured, told reporters that the truck was overloaded and came down without warning, running over shops and people.
Toll and treatment
Gwalior’s senior superintendent of police said 39 people were taken to hospital, of whom 12 were declared dead. Five or six of the injured are in a critical condition with fractures, while the rest have minor injuries. Two police personnel who were on barricade duty were among those hurt. The injured include women and children, and police said all the dead were from Gwalior and neighbouring districts. Their identities had not been released by Sunday morning.
District collector Ruchika Chauhan said ambulances were rushed to the spot as soon as the first calls came in, and that the injured were being given CT scans and X-rays and treated with help from Red Cross funds.
A stopper and a police checkpoint were present on that road during Navratri, so how the vehicle managed to get inside is a matter of investigation.
Ruchika Chauhan, Gwalior district collector
Investigation and why it matters
A preliminary police assessment points to mechanical failure, and the administration has sent a regional transport office (RTO) team to examine the truck and find out why it pulled to one side. Officials are also looking at how a heavy vehicle reached a road that was supposed to be closed to such traffic, and whether overloading played a part. Police have not yet said whether the driver has been detained or a case registered.
The crash is the second deadly incident involving festival crowds in two days. On Saturday night, a stampede at a Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata killed 19 people, according to the West Bengal government. Both tragedies have renewed questions about crowd and traffic control at temples and pandals during the busiest nights of the festival season, which runs through Dussehra.
What happens next
The RTO report on the truck’s condition and the police inquiry into the barricade breach are expected to decide who is held responsible. Officials are also working to formally identify the dead and inform their families, while doctors continue to treat the critically injured.
