One killed, several fall ill in crowd surge during Puri Rath Yatra; another dies of cardiac arrest

Lakhs gathered for the Rath Yatra celebrations as a temporary crowd surge left one person dead and several unwell, while another devotee died of a suspected cardiac arrest.

Chariots of the Jagannath Yatra | Photo: Shubhangi Misra, ThePrint

Puri: One person died and many fell ill in a temporary crowd surge during the Rath Yatra celebrations in Odisha’s Puri on Thursday, official sources said.

In an unrelated incident, another person died of cardiac arrest, they said.

Lakhs of devotees joined the annual Rath Yatra festival in the seaside temple town. The ‘Pahandi’ ritual, the ceremonial procession of the sibling deities — Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath — is currently underway.

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