Sabarimala stampede: 29 victims were from Tamil Nadu

Seven people, six from Tamil Nadu and one from Andhra Pradesh, have been admitted to the Theni Medical College Hospital, near Kerala border.

According to officials of the Kerala government and Kumily police station near Sabarimala, 29 people from Tamil Nadu lost their lives in the Friday night stampede.

Speaking to IANS, an official said post-mortem examinations of all the bodies were yet to be completed. Some bodies have been taken away by their relatives after autopsy.

The stampede in Kerala's Idduki district occurred around 8 p.m. Friday when the pilgrims were returning after watching the Makara Jyothi light, the most important event of the pilgrimage, from a hillock some 30 km from the Sabarimala temple.

According to the officials, the toll in the stampede was 102. Earlier, the figure was given out as 104. Of these, 74 victims have been identified.

The number of dead from other states is as follows: Andhra Pradesh-16, Kerala-3, Karnataka-25. A devotee from Sri Lanka was also killed in the stampede.

Of the seven injured admitted to Tamil Nadu's Theni Medical College Hospital, three belong to Dharmapuri, two are from Coimbatore and one is from Tiruttani district. The seventh injured is from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh.

The hospital is located around 140 km from Sabarimala and 500 km from Chennai.
The hospital phone number is: 04546-243602.

The seven injured men are: Jagannathan (51), Chinnasamy (30) and Sarvanan (22) from Dharmapuri; Saravanan (30) and Dinesh Kumar (27) from Coimbatore; Ramalingam (37) from Tiruttani; and Ramesh (27) from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi expressed condolences to the families of those killed in the incident and announced a compensation of Rs.100,000 each to the kin of those killed from Tamil Nadu and Rs.25,000 for those injured.

Information about the incident and victims can be obtained on telephone numbers: 04869-222049 and 04869-253456.