Puri: At least two people died and 78 others were hospitalised as a sea of devotees jostled for space amid blinding rain during the annual Rath Yatra in Puri on Thursday, forcing authorities to suspend the annual chariot-pulling ceremony for the night.Hospital officials said Anil Das of Cuttack and another devotee, identified by Puri district hospital as Surya Prakash Rao from Andhra Pradesh, could not be saved, despite best efforts.At least 400 people fainted during the yatra that saw nearly 9 lakh people converge at the temple city from various states and abroad for the nine-day festival.Witnesses said devotees jumped over one another to catch a glimpse of Lord Jagannath’s idol, which was being ceremonially carried from the shrine to the chariot around 1 pm at Marchikota Chowk, leaving many injured.Ambulances were seen ferrying in many of the injured to emergency wards from late afternoon.“We received at least 19 devotees, including men, women and children, with leg and knee injuries. Two of them could not be saved. We have admitted 78, while the rest were discharged after first aid,” a hospital official said.Police said the crowd surges were at different points along the Grand Road before the chariot‑pulling began.This year, the govt adopted several crowd control measures following the death of three devotees in a stampede outside the Gundicha temple on the third day of last year’s Rath Yatra.The chief minister’s office (CMO) said there was no stampede. “There was no incident of stampede or any systemic breakdown in crowd management. The overall conduct of the festival remained peaceful, orderly and well managed.”The govt attributed one of the two deaths reported during the festival to a cardiac arrest, while the cause of the other is being ascertained. According to the statement, seven persons in a group fell ill during the festival and were immediately evacuated by deployed personnel and shifted to hospitals.“Among them, a man aged over 60 years died, and the exact cause of his death is being determined by the authorities. In a separate and unrelated incident, a devotee aged over 35 years suffered a cardiac arrest and died despite receiving immediate medical attention,” the statement said.The govt said an estimated 8-9 lakh devotees attended the Rath Yatra. Given the unprecedented turnout and continuous rainfall, several cases of fatigue, dehydration, suffocation and other minor health-related ailments were reported during the day.The opposition BJD tore into the govt for the incident. “This was not merely a mishap; it reflects a grave failure of the system. The govt must take responsibility and provide answers,” the BJD said in a statement, while party president and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik expressed grief over the tragedy and demanded Rs 20 lakh compensation for the families of the deceased.Early in the day, lakhs thronged the Grand Road braving heavy showers, although police estimated the turnout was down compared to last year’s 10‑lakh gathering. “The chariot‑pulling was delayed by over an hour, beginning at 5.10 pm instead of the scheduled 4 pm. The exercise was later suspended for the night and will resume Friday morning,” a govt source and witnesses said.While the chariots of Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra halted at Market Chowk and Marchikota Chowk, Lord Jagannath’s chariot moved only a few steps before stopping. “The pahandi ritual of Lord Jagannath was delayed, which caused subsequent delays in chariot pulling,” law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan explained.Discontent also surfaced among devotees after the iconic tahia (floral headgear) of Lord Jagannath broke during the pahandi procession.Yet the fervour remained undiminished. The Grand Road reverberated with chants of ‘Haribol ‘ and ‘Jai Jagannath’ as devotees, including governor Hari Babu Kambhampati and chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, joined in to pull the sacred ropes.“Witnessing Lord Jagannath’s emergence from the temple onto the chariot was an overwhelmingly spiritual moment. Tears of joy rolled down my eyes,” said Shravani Maurya, a devotee from Lucknow.President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended greetings on the occasion. “I extend my heartfelt greetings to devotees of Lord Jagannath across the country and abroad,” Murmu wrote on X.Modi added: “On the sacred occasion of Mahaprabhu Jagannath’s Rath Yatra, may His blessings always remain upon all of us and infuse new energy into the lives of our countrymen.”
