For 5 minutes we thought all of us were dead: Tirupati stampede survivor

Survivors of the deadly stampede at Tirupati that left six dead have recounted the horror, with complaints ranging from long waiting hours to get tickets for Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam to sudden opening of the gates that prompted the crowd to surge ahead.

“For five minutes we thought all of us were dead. I have been coming to the temple for the past 25 years and it has never happened like this,” D Venkata Lakshmi told a vernacular news channel.

She said six boys pulled her aside and gave some water to drink.

According to Lakshmi, people rushed forward and up to 10 people fell down where she was standing.

“Though I was raising a hue and cry that I was falling on the side, people were still rushing from behind and could not be controlled. I don't know if they were pushing ahead, but the men were uncontrollable. People were walking over devotees. I could not even breathe for a long time,” she said.

Further, had the police allowed devotees to proceed in an orderly way, this disaster could have been averted, she said and highlighted that people could not make sense of what was happening.

Another devotee said she came around 11 am on Wednesday and the gate was opened at 7 pm.

“One person told devotees not to rush and go in a line, but who will listen. Police were outside, not inside,” she said.

A male devotee insisted the police were told about the presence of 5,000 devotees. He claimed that police opened the gates suddenly, leading to the stampede.

On Wednesday night, six devotees died and nearly 40 more were injured in the stampede at Bairagi Patteda near MGM School in Tirupati as hundreds of them jostled for tickets for Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam at Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple on Tirumala Hills.

Hundreds of devotees turned up from across the country for the 10-day Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam commencing from January 10.