Death toll in India temple stampede rises to 109

| October 13, 2013 | Updated: October 13, 2013 10:47pm

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Indian villagers on tractors move past bodies of victims of a stampede on a bridge across the Sindh River in Datia district in Madhya Pradesh state, India, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013. At least 64 people were killed Sunday in a stampede by masses of Hindu worshippers crossing the bridge to the remote Ratangarh village temple to honor the Hindu mother goddess Durga on the last day of the popular 10-day Navaratra festival. The chaos broke out as rumors spread that the bridge was collapsing, according to D.K. Arya, deputy inspector general of police in the region.

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NEW DELHI (AP) — An official says the death toll from a stampede near a temple in central India has risen to 109 after many of the injured succumbed to injuries.

Thousands of Hindu pilgrims were crossing a bridge leading to a temple in Madhya Pradesh state on Sunday when they panicked at rumors the bridge would collapse, triggering a stampede.

The district medical officer R.S. Gupta said Monday that autopsies had been carried out on 109 bodies by late Sunday.

Hundreds of thousands of devotees had thronged the remote Ratangarh village temple to honor the Hindu mother goddess Durga on the last day of the popular 10-day Navaratra festival.