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India temple stampede toll rises to 109

The death toll from a stampede on a bridge in India has risen to 109 after the bodies of more Hindu pilgrims were recovered from the river below.

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Source: AAP


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"The latest information we have from the ground is that 109 people killed and 133 were injured," Anand Mishra, an officer in the local police control room, told AFP in an updated bulletin on Sunday's tragedy.

While scores of victims were crushed to death on the bridge in the town of Ratangarh, others died as the leapt into the river Sindh below in a bid to escape the chaos.

"We recovered the bodies from the river and from where they were crushed to the death," said Mishra, speaking by phone from the nearby city of Datia in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

Large crowds began converging on the site from early morning, according to witnesses, on the penultimate day of the Navaratri festival.

The nine-day festival is dedicated to the worship of the Hindu goddess Durga, which draws millions of worshippers to temples, especially in northern and central India.

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The tragedy occurred at the same site of another stampede in 2006 in which more than 50 pilgrims were also killed.


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