At least 18 persons, inlcuding women, were killed and hundreds injured in a stampede at a religious gathering in Varanasi on Saturday, police said.
The stampede occurred at around 1.30 p.m. at the Rajghat bridge where thousands of people had turned up at the religious congregation by the disciples of the late spiritual leader Jai Gurudev.
Officials told IANS that 18 dead bodies have been recovered and that the number of injured may run into hundreds.
"For now, we are focussing on relief and rescue operations and a probe will be ordered later to ascertain the exact cause of the tragedy," the official added.
--IANS
md/nir/sar/
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