Deadly stampede occurred, took 12 lives
NEW DELHI: At least 12 people died and four injured due stampede at a religious place near Ratlam, says police.
An official says it was a stampede during a religious ceremony in central India which took as much as 12 lives.
Senior police officer Rajesh Vyas says the stampede occurred early Saturday when a large number of people surged forward to gain entry into a Muslim shrine, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
Vyas says some pilgrims fell down and were crushed to death.
The shrine is near Ratlam, a town in Madhya Pradesh state nearly 480 miles (760 kilometers) southwest of New Delhi.
Police in the region could not be immediately reached for details.
In India deadly stampedes are relatively common at religious places, where large crowds gather in small areas with no safety measures or crowd control precautions.
(contents: ABC)
