. 24/7 Space News .
45 Dead In Relief Camp Stampede In South India

Indian relative Meena (C) mourns the death of her husband outside the mortuary at the G.H.Hospital in Chennai, 18 December 2005. At least 45 people, mostly women, were killed and more than 50 injured in a stampede for food coupons at a flood relief camp in the southern Indian city of Chennai, police said. AFP photo by Manan Vatsyayana.

Chennai, India (AFP) Dec 18, 2005
At least 45 people, mostly women, were killed and more than 50 injured Sunday in a stampede for food coupons at a flood relief camp in the southern Indian city of Chennai, officials said.

More than 3,000 people affected by floods had gathered at a government school in the Tamil Nadu state capital to collect food coupons early Sunday, an official said.

A police official told AFP 45 people were killed and around 50 injured. The government, however, put the death toll at 42.

"Forty two people have died in this tragic incident," Tamil Nadu state Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said.

"I spoke to survivors and I asked them what they were doing so early in the morning since the relief coupons were to be distributed from 7:00 am and they said they were told to go early because very few coupons were left," she said.

Jayalalithaa said the state would pay the victims' families 100,000 rupees (2,212 dollars) in compensation and ordered a judicial enquiry into the incident.

"This is a very tragic incident and I express my condolences."

Witnesses said there was a scramble to enter the school three hours before the scheduled opening of coupon counters when the crowd mistook a group of approaching policemen for relief workers.

"Suddenly it started raining heavily and there was a mad scramble to get in. As the lock on the main door snapped, those in the front got crushed by the jostling crowd behind them," said witness Dhanalakshmi, who uses only one name.

Most of the victims were women, administration officials said, adding that a separate police investigation was also ordered into the tragedy. Heavy rain delayed the rescue work.

"It was raining so heavily that it was difficult to make out who was dead and who was injured," a rescuer said from the site which was littered with empty bags people had brought in the hope of collecting relief material.

Two of the city's main hospitals, Government and Royapettah, where the injured were taken, were swamped by police and angry relatives.

Women wailed in the corridor of the Government General Hospital while policemen taking the dead to the morgue looked shaken.

At the site of the stampede one person recounted a lucky escape.

"I came here to get coupons for my family as my daughter had just given birth to a baby. I was lucky that I got delayed because of the rains," said Mangamma, who had just reached the spot when the stampede happened.

The injured and relatives of the dead were enraged.

"The authorities should have taken more measures. This is the second such incident in two months," said Murugesan at the Government General Hospital to see his injured wife.

It was the second stampede since the government opened around 150 relief centres to distribute food to thousands of people after heavy rains lashed the region in October, causing floods that destroyed homes.

Last month, six people were crushed to death as a crowd rushed to collect 2,000 rupees (44 dollars) in cash, food and clothes being distributed by the authorities.

Officials, however, pleaded helplessness.

"What could we have done if people started lining up earlier? Four policemen who were there at the time were enough to man the crowd. After all, this is not a riot situation," said relief worker Rajendran.

Source: Agence France-Presse

Related Links
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


India Approves Launch Of Seven Satellite Launch Vehicles
New Delhi (AFP) Dec 17, 2005
India's cabinet has authorised the nation's space agency, ISRO, to launch seven satellite launch vehicles, a report said Saturday. India, which wants to become a niche player in the global space communications market, had earlier announced plans to launch up to one dozen satellites over the next four years.







  • Virgin GlobalFlyer Record Attempt To Take Off From Shuttle Runway At Kennedy
  • NIAC Seeks Phase 1 Proposals To Advance Vision For Space Exploration
  • Canadian Arrow Hopes A Silver Dart Will Pierce The CATS Barrier
  • Virgin Astronauts To Blast Off From New Mexico

  • Opportunity Completes Atmospheric Science Campaign At Erebus
  • Rover Engineers Regain Use Of Opportunity Rover Arm
  • Descent From The Summit Of Husband Hill
  • Microbes Under Greenland Ice Give Hints To Martian Life Potentials

  • ESA Signs Herschel And Planck Launch Contract
  • MT Aerospace Signs CNES Contract For Soyuz Ground Facilities In Kourou
  • An Interview With The President Of RSC Energia
  • Sea Launch Awarded Spaceway 3 Contract By Hughes Network Systems

  • A New Generation Of Russian EO Satellites In Orbit
  • New Era Of Low Cost EOs Dawns As First Topsat Images Received
  • Unprecedented View Of Upper Atmosphere Created By NASA Scientists
  • Space Radar Advances And Application

  • Atlas 5 Launch Of Pluto Mission New Horizions Delayed Five Days
  • Mysterious Deep-Space Object Raises Questions On Origin Of Solar System
  • NASA Prepares To Launch First Probe To The Kuiper Belt
  • A Historic Space Mission To the Third Zone Nears Launch

  • Astronomers Link Old Stars And Mysterious Cosmic Explosions
  • Highest Energy Photons Ever Detected As Emanating From Milky Way Equator
  • Spitzer Exposes Hundreds Of New Star Clusters In Dust-Drenched Plane Of Milky Way
  • Galaxy Collisions Dominate The Local Universe

  • Moon Storms
  • Chinese Lunar Land Sale A Great Idea But Illegal Says Government
  • Russian Technologies Can Put Cosmonauts On Moon
  • India Awaits Approval For Chandrayan Lunar Mission

  • Launch Of First Galileo Satellite Delayed
  • Inmarsat To Run Galileo GPS Network Operations Arm
  • GPS Systems Getting Smaller
  • First Member Of Galileo Satellite Family To Be Launched 26 December

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement