Crowd crush at temple in India’s Goa kills 6, injures dozens
At least six people have been killed and about 80 others were injured in a crowd crush at a temple in the western Indian state of Goa where tens of thousands of Hindu worshippers had assembled, officials said.
The incident happened on Friday night as thousands of devotees thronged narrow lanes leading to the Hindu temple in Goa’s Shirgao village, some 40km (24 miles) from the state capital of Panaji.
People had gathered during the annual Shri Lairai Zatra festival at the Sree Lairai Devi temple, which is popular for events including firewalking rituals, during which devotees walk barefoot over a bed of burning coals to seek blessings.
People standing on a slope near the temple fell over, pushing more people to fall onto each other, Director General of Police Alok Kumar said.
Deadly crushes occur regularly at religious festivals across India, where large crowds often gather in small areas.
In January, at least 30 people were killed and many more were injured as tens of thousands of Hindus rushed to bathe in a sacred river at India’s massive Maha Kumbh festival, the world’s largest religious gathering, in the northern Uttar Pradesh state.
In July last year, at least 116 people died, most of them women and children, when a crowd of thousands at a religious gathering in northern India surged at a tent camp in Hathras town in the same state.
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2025/...res-dozens
At least six people have been killed and about 80 others were injured in a crowd crush at a temple in the western Indian state of Goa where tens of thousands of Hindu worshippers had assembled, officials said.
The incident happened on Friday night as thousands of devotees thronged narrow lanes leading to the Hindu temple in Goa’s Shirgao village, some 40km (24 miles) from the state capital of Panaji.
People had gathered during the annual Shri Lairai Zatra festival at the Sree Lairai Devi temple, which is popular for events including firewalking rituals, during which devotees walk barefoot over a bed of burning coals to seek blessings.
People standing on a slope near the temple fell over, pushing more people to fall onto each other, Director General of Police Alok Kumar said.
Deadly crushes occur regularly at religious festivals across India, where large crowds often gather in small areas.
In January, at least 30 people were killed and many more were injured as tens of thousands of Hindus rushed to bathe in a sacred river at India’s massive Maha Kumbh festival, the world’s largest religious gathering, in the northern Uttar Pradesh state.
In July last year, at least 116 people died, most of them women and children, when a crowd of thousands at a religious gathering in northern India surged at a tent camp in Hathras town in the same state.
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2025/...res-dozens
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
