Stampede and fire kill 257 near Indian temple

At least as 257 Hindu pilgrims, including women and children, were crushed or burned to death in a stampede and subsequent fire near a temple in western India yesterday, an official said.

Officials said a short-circuit sparked a fire in roadside stalls when nearly 300,000 people were on an annual pilgrimage to the popular Mandhar Devi temple, on a hilltop near Wai, about 260km southeast of Mumbai.

Scores were crushed to death on the steep and narrow hill path leading to the temple and many others were charred, witnesses and officials said.

"About 257 people are dead," Sharad Yadav, resident deputy collector for Satara district where the temple is located, said over phone. He said police had evacuated most of the injured to nearby hospitals.

"We do not have a precise number of people injured but several dozens have been taken to hospitals," Yadav said. Dishevelled and mangled bodies were lined up as tin-roofed stalls smouldered near the temple and adjoining settlement.

Witnesses said the stampede started around midday after pilgrims slipped on the temple's steep stone steps, which had become wet after coconuts were broken as an offering to the local deity.

A short-circuit in a power cable then sparked a fire in make-shift stalls selling flowers and food, causing cooking gas cylinders to explode, officials said.