{"id":134283,"date":"2015-07-14T09:03:01","date_gmt":"2015-07-14T09:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=134283"},"modified":"2015-07-14T09:33:14","modified_gmt":"2015-07-14T09:33:14","slug":"india-stampede-kills-22-pilgrims-in-andhra-pradesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/07\/india-stampede-kills-22-pilgrims-in-andhra-pradesh\/","title":{"rendered":"India stampede ‘kills 22 pilgrims’ in Andhra Pradesh"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At least 22 pilgrims have died in a stampede on the banks of a holy river in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, local officials say.<\/p>\n
The Hindu pilgrims had gathered to take a dip in the Godavari river at the start of the Maha Pushkaralu festival.<\/p>\n
The stampede occurred at 08:00am (02:30 GMT) in the Rajahmundry district.<\/p>\n
Nearly 24 million pilgrims are expected to take part in the 12-day festival. Pilgrims believe that taking a bath in the river will rid them of their sins.<\/p>\n
“The incident happened as the first set of worshippers were coming out of the river after taking a dip and then got in the way of others who wanted to be in the water at an auspicious time,” AFP news agency quoted senior police official A Srinivasan Rao as saying.<\/p>\n
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who bathed in the river at the festival on Tuesday morning, said in a series of tweets that he was monitoring the situation and urged people not to panic:<\/p>\n