Three were killed, more than 50 injured in Jagannath Rath Yatra near Gundicha temple in Puri. Bharat News

Last update:June 29, 2025, 13:36 IST

When this Gundcha reached the temple, this stampede took place in front of Lord Jagannath, Nandaghosh’s chariot.

In a tragic incident, at least three devotees were killed and more than 50 were injured after a stampede near the Sri Gundcha temple during the annual Rath Yatra in Puri, Odisha on Sunday.

Stamped Lord Jagannath occurred in front of the chariot of Nandaghosh, when it reached Gundcha temple around 4-5 am on Sunday, Puri District Collector Siddharth S Swain said that it was quoted by the news agency PTI.

Officials said that after two trucks carrying material for rituals, anarchy entered the crowded place near the chariots of Lord Jagannath and his brother -in -law’s gods.

When the three chariots reached their destination, a large crowd of devotees gathered, which gathered to see the deity, leading to the collapse of the crowd. As a result, many devotees fell over each other near the chariot wheels.

He said that the injured have been admitted to a nearby hospital, and the condition of six people is important.

The deceased has been identified as Basanti Sahu from Bolagarh in Korda district, Premkanti Mohanty, and Prabhati Das from Athantara village under Balatta block. The body has been sent for postmortem and an investigation is going on.

Local media said that the police system for mob control was insufficient on the spot.

CM Manjhi orders strict action

Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Manjhi expressed condolences on the loss of life in the stampede and said that security flaws would be investigated immediately and the administration has been ordered to take all the necessary steps to take all responsible steps.

“An unfortunate event occurred due to the rapid curiosity among the devotees to get a glimpse of Mahaprabhu in Sharadbali. Personally, I and my government are forgiven to all Jagannath devotees. They were expressing briefly to the families of those devotees. To tolerate this intense grief.

Odisha Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan expressed his condolences and announced a high-level inquiry.

Talk to ANI On the phone, Harichandan said, “This is an unfortunate incident. We are paying attention to it. I have talked to the CM this morning. We are strictly taking action. The DGP has been sent on the spot. Three people have passed away. The incident is being investigated.

Odisha DGP runs in Gundcha temple

Odisha Director General of Police (DGP) YB Khurania Jagannath arrived at Gundcha temple to assess the situation after a stampede during the Rath Yatra.

Visuals showed DGP Khurania arriving at the Gudicha temple, while the police managed the crowd.

The victims shared the ordinance

A Puri resident Swidin Kumar Panda slammed the management for the stampede. He said that a new way was created for VIP, and the common people were asked to get out of distance.

He said, “I was near the temple till 2-3 pm last night, but the management was not good. A new way was created for VIP, and the common people were asked to get out of the distance.

He further said that the traffic system was also not good, as many unauthorized passes came to the temple.

“The traffic system was also not good, as many unauthorized passes came to the temple. The administration did not control the crowd properly. The biggest problem was that there was a gate to exit. Many people died on the day of Rath Yatra.

A person who lost his wife in the stampede said, “When this incident happened, no one replied, neither fire officials, nor rescue teams, nor hospital teams. This is a pathetic incident that cannot be expressed …”

The incident has created fresh concern over mob management during major religious ceremonies.

Naveen Patnaik convicted the state government for mismanagement

BJD President and former CM Naveen Patnaik on Sunday claimed that a stampede near the Gundicha temple in Puri, Odisha, highlighted the terrible disability of the state government in ensuring a peaceful chariot yatra for the devotees.

“I expand my heartfelt condolences to the families of the three devotees who have lost their lives in a tragic stampede in Sardbali, #Puri and I pray to Mahaprabhu Jagannath for the fast recovery of the injured devotees in this disastrous incident,” Patnaik said in a post on X.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Odisha Assembly said, “Today’s stampede, during the #RATHYATRA, occurred just a day after the failure of the mob management, which has been injured hundreds, highlights the bright disability of the government in ensuring a peaceful festival for devotees.”

More than 1 million people fled in Rath Yatra

According to the administration, more than 1 million people attended the two -day Rath Yatra ceremony. On Friday, on the first day of the journey, more than 1 million devotees participated, resulting in a significant crowd pressure. About 625 people allegedly fell ill near the chariot of Goddess Subhadra till late evening.

On Saturday too, many devotees saw falling ill despite a 10–20% decline in the size of the crowd compared to Friday. Officials said more than 650 devotees experienced health issues in the last 24 hours. At least 70 hospitals were admitted, and nine was important.

Other events

Meanwhile, in another incident, three young women died on the way to attend the Rath Yatra ceremony in Puri on Saturday, when they were run by bus on a highway connecting Bhubaneswar and coastal pilgrims to the city, police said.

The incident occurred on a bridge near Pipili when the three women, who were traveling on a two -wheeler, collided with a motorcycle, after which they fell on the road and came under the wheels of a government bus.

While two died on the spot, the third woman died due to her injuries while taking the Pipili Community Health Center.

Rath reach the destination

The chariots of Lord Balabhadra, Goddess Subhadra and Lord Jagannath arrived at their destination Gundcha temple a day after the commencement of the Rath Yatra on Saturday. It is believed that the Gundcha temple is considered to be the home of the ‘aunt’ of those gods who leave the Jagannath temple to visit their ‘aunt’s house’ every year. The Gundcha temple is located 2.6 km from the 12th century Jagannath Temple.

The deities will go to the main temple after nine days. The return Rath Yatra is called the ‘Bahuda Yatra’ which will take place on 5 July this year.

On Friday, “Between the mantras of”Jai Jagannath” And “Hari Bol“After beating the cymbals and blowing shells of trumpets and conch shells, the ‘Taldwaja’ chariot of Lord Balabhadra started rolling for the first time at 4:08 pm. After this, Goddess Subhadra’s ‘Darpadan’ chariot and finally were rolled with Lord Jagannath’s ‘Nandaghosh’.

Puri title Raja, Gajapati Maharaja Divya Singh Deb, began the chariot pulling, which demonstrated ‘Chhera Pahanara’ (sweeping of chariots) on the three chariots.

Wood horses of different colors were fitted on three chariots, before they were drawn by the devotees.

defense in depth

As spiritual enthusiasm, the entire city of Puri is placed under a multi -level security cover to ensure a safe and smooth conduct of the festival on a large scale, which attracts millions of devotees from all over the world.

Around 10,000 police personnel have been deployed throughout the city to manage the legs on a large scale during the Rath Yatra and to maintain law and order.

The Odisha police said that advanced arrangements including monitoring through Artificial Intelligence (AI) -Nabled cameras and drone monitoring have been made to handle a crowd of about 1.5 million devotees.

(With input from agencies)

Place :

Puri, India, India

first published: