Image of devotees in Sabarimala for representational purposes.
Credit: Special Arrangement
Thiruvananthapuram: The heavy influx of pilgrims at the Lord Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala led to a near stampede-like situation on Tuesday.
A 58-year-old woman collapsed and died while waiting in queue for darshan, sources from the district administration said.
Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president K Jayakumar told reporters that the woman's body would be transported back to her native place in an ambulance at the TDB's expense. The deceased woman is from Koyilandy in Kozhikode district, officials said.
Pilgrims were forced to wait in a queue for more than 10 hours for darshan. Many returned without darshan.
After waiting for hours, many pilgrims jumped the barricades at the 'Nada pandal' (queue complex) near the temple and rushed towards the 'Pathinettam padi' (18 holy steps).
This led to a near-stampede situation near the holy steps at noon. The police personnel struggled to manage the pilgrims. Many children and elderly persons suffered discomfort owing to the commotion.
Additional director general of police S Sreejith, who is in charge of the Sabarimala security arrangements, rushed to the spot and made arrangements to manage the crowd. The closing time of the temple was also extended by one hour from 1 pm to 2 pm.
He said even as the maximum pilgrims allowed daily through virtual queue booking is 70,000 and through spot booking is 20,000, more pilgrims reached the temple during the day.
Devaswom president Jayakumar said the maximum number of pilgrims during a day would be strictly restricted to one lakh and pilgrims would be allowed only in the time slots allowed to them. In order to manage the crowd, spot booking facilities would be set up in other halting places.
There was widespread criticism about inadequate arrangements and facilities. Many pilgrims complained about the lack of water and food.
The CPM-led government came under fire from the Congress, as well as the BJP, for a lack of proper arrangements.
(With PTI inputs)