One woman died and over a dozen others were injured on Wednesday in two incidents of stampede in Ayodhya as lakhs of pilgrims thronged the city to take a dip in the Saryu on the occasion of Ram Navami.

Police, however, claimed said that the woman died due to heart attack. About 1 million devotees started swarming the temple town since early morning for a holy dip in the Saryu and offer prayer at temples on the occasion of Ram Navami. 

The first incident took place in Tulsi Udyan area near the Ramjanmabhoomi shrine, in which Dulari Devi (65) reportedly died. Her husband Sadhu Ram, a resident of Naugarh area of Siddharthnagar district, said, "We were returning after offering puja at Tulsi Udyan when we got trapped in the middle of a huge crowd. My wife fell down and got trapped under the rampaging crowd." "We kept crying for help, but nobody came to our rescue. By the time some people from the local administration reached us and took her to hospital, she was already dead," he added.

Faizabad Senior Superintendent of Police Anant Dev, however, claimed that the woman died due to heart attack. Another injured woman, Lakhpati Devi (70) of Sultanpur district, was admitted to the district hospital in a critical condition. In another stampede in Bandha Tiraha area, more than a dozen devotees were injured, officials said.

Source: Timesofoman