World
Crowd crush at India’s Tirupati temple kills six as thousands seek entryHyderabad: At least six people were crushed to death and dozens injured as a crowd surged at one of the most visited Hindu religious sites at Tirupati town in India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh. A huge crowd gathered to collect free entrance tokens to visit the town’s Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple when the crush happened on Wednesday night. “The unfortunate incident ... has claimed the lives of six devotees. I pray to God to give peace to the departed souls,” Prem Kumar Jain, spokesman of the state’s ruling, told reporters. Since early on Wednesday, devotees from across India had begun to congregate for a 10-day festival at the temple that starts on Friday. Authorities had set up counters to distribute free tokens from Thursday to visit the almost 2,000-year-old temple but the crowd pushed and jostled, according to the office of N Chandrababu Naidu, chief minister of the state. In a post on social media platform X, Naidu said the deaths “grieved me intensely”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to the families of the deceased. “My thoughts are with those who have lost their near and dear ones,” his office said on X. (Agencies)