New Delhi: The stampede at an Andhra Pradesh temple on Saturday (November 1) where nine people are known to have been killed is at least the eighth major incident of its kind this year and the second in the southern state.

A rush of devotees at the Venkateswara Swamy temple in Srikakulam district's Kasibugga town on an auspicious occasion yesterday and the resulting stampede claimed the lives of nine people, including a child.

Some 20,000 people reportedly visited the temple that a state minister estimated only had a capacity to host between 2,000 and 3,000 people.

Thus far in 2025 there had been at least seven other major stampedes in India, with four involving rushes at temples and other incidents occurring at a political rally, a cricket celebration and a packed railway station platform.

• Karur, Tamil Nadu: Forty-one people were killed per media reports in a stampede (or multiple stampedes per some accounts) during a roadshow held in the town by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam chief and actor-politician Vijay on September 27.
• Haridwar, Uttarakhand: At least six people were killed in a stampede at the Mansa Devi temple in the foothills next to Haridwar town in Uttarakhand on July 27.
• Bengaluru, Karnataka: Eleven people lost their lives in a stampede that occurred outside the M.A. Chinnaswamy stadium on June 4 during a celebration of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru's victory in the Indian Premier League.
• Shirgao, Goa: A stampede at the North Goa temple in the early hours of May 3 claimed at least six lives.
• Delhi: As massive crowds gathered at the New Delhi railway station on February 15 to board trains to Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh Mela, a stampede at one platform of the station saw at least 18 people lose their lives.
• Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh: Just two weeks prior to the Delhi crowd crush, a stampede (or series of stampedes per some accounts) occurred at the Maha Kumbh Mela on the intervening night of January 28 and 29. The local administration pegged the death toll at 30, although some others say it was much higher.
• Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh: In the other stampede to have occurred in Andhra Pradesh this year, six people died near the Tirumala temple in Tirupati on January 9.

Adding up the figures cited above would account for some 127 people killed so far this year in major stampedes in the country.

Another stampede in Puri, Odisha on July 29 claimed the lives of at least three devotees near the Gundicha Temple.

A number of such incidents occurred last year in India as well, the most prominent one of which took place during a satsang for self-styled godman ‘Bhole Baba’ in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras on July 2, 2024, killing 121 people.

National Crime Records Bureau reports say that 32, 22, 25 and 14 people were killed in stampedes in 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2020 respectively.

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