Andhra temple stampede explained: What went wrong inside Venkateswara shrine and how the state plans to prevent a repeat

Nine killed in Andhra temple stampede, Lokesh says crowd ‘unplanned and overwhelming’

A festive day of prayers turned tragic in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district on Saturday when a stampede at the Kasibugga Venkateswara Swamy Temple left nine people dead, most of them women.

Andhra Pradesh Minister Nara Lokesh said an 'unknown amount of rush' at the shrine led to 'a lot of suffocation' and eventually triggered the deadly chaos.

Lokesh, accompanied by Union Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, visited the injured at the local hospital and gave a detailed account of how the situation spiralled out of control.

“Today, being Ekadashi, like never before, pilgrims came here. This is a private temple, not under the jurisdiction of the Endowments Department. From morning 6 to noon, darshan happens, then resumes at 3 pm. There are two separate ways, one for entry, one for exit,” Lokesh told reporters as per an ANI report.

‘Entry closed, devotees used exit, suffocation followed’

According to Lokesh, the disaster unfolded around 11:30 a.m. when an unexpectedly large number of devotees gathered at the temple.

“Because there was an unknown amount of rush, the entry point was closed. Many people tried to use the exit route instead, which led to suffocation. The entry has steps, the person on top tripped, and that caused a cascading effect,” he said.

The minister admitted that queue management was inadequate for such a large gathering. “The planners were not prepared for this kind of crowd,” he said, adding that most devotees were first-timers.

“It was a slow congregation that turned into a large, unplanned one. No one imagined such numbers would turn up for darshan,” Lokesh added.

Swift rescue, but nine lives lost

Lokesh said he was informed of the incident within five minutes and immediately contacted the local MLA, Home Minister, and the Disaster Management team.

“We have a WhatsApp group for real-time governance, including the Disaster Management Minister. From there, we coordinated rescue efforts. We worked exceptionally hard to save as many lives as possible,” he said.

Despite the quick response, nine people lost their lives, and several others were injured, three of them critically and shifted to a super-specialty hospital for advanced treatment.

Ex-gratia announced; PM Modi, CM Naidu express grief

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu announced an ex-gratia of Rs 15 lakh for each of the deceased and Rs 3 lakh for those seriously injured.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also conveyed his condolences and announced Rs 2 lakh compensation for the families of those who died and Rs 50,000 for the injured.

President Droupadi Murmu, in a post on X, said she was “shocked to learn about the loss of lives” and offered her “deepest condolences” to the bereaved families.

Lokesh admits lapse: “We were caught off guard”

Lokesh acknowledged that the administration was “caught off guard” by the scale of the gathering.

“Most of those who came were visiting the temple for the first time. Out of the 16 people admitted to the hospital, only one had visited before. It wasn’t one village, people came from different areas,” he explained.

He stressed that the incident occurred at a private temple, not managed by the state’s Endowments Department. “For temples like Tirumala and Simhachalam, preventive action is already in place. But this happened at a privately managed shrine,” he said.

SOPs to be drafted for all temples, private and public

Nara Lokesh said the government has now directed officials to formulate Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all temples, including those privately run, to prevent similar tragedies.

“The CM has asked us to come up with a clear SOP once the committee submits its report. We’ll also include private temples under crowd monitoring and structural safety checks,” Lokesh said.

The government has promised to provide medical equipment and support to families of the injured. “Whatever they need for critical care, we will deliver it to their homes,” Lokesh assured.