A crush at a religious gathering in northern India has killed at least 121 people, officials said.
The incident took place during a satsang (Hindu religious event) in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh.
The victims, who included a large number of women and some children, are still being identified.
Survivors described the disaster as they tried to leave the scene of the incident in the village of Phulai.
It’s unclear what caused the squeeze. Witnesses said the exit was too narrow and a violent sandstorm caused chaos and panic as people left, with many people being trampled.
One witness, who requested anonymity, told the BBC that everything was “going smoothly” until “all of a sudden I heard screaming and before I knew it, people were falling on each other”.
“A lot of people were crushed and there was nothing I could do. I’m lucky to be alive.”
“After the sermon was over, everyone started running out,” a woman named Shakuntala told the Press Trust of India news agency.
“People fell into the gutters on the side of the road. They started falling one on top of the other and were crushed to death.”
Umesh Kumar Tripathi, chief medical officer of nearby Etah district, told reporters that the “stampede” killed at least three children.
A spokesman for a senior Uttar Pradesh police officer told the BBC that “it will take several hours before the final tally is released”.
Distressing images from the site are circulating online. Some videos showed injured people being taken to hospitals in pickup trucks, tuk-tuks and even motorcycles.
A video seen by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) showed several bodies left at the door of a local hospital, with relatives screaming for help.
A relative in another video said: “Such a big accident happened but not a single senior official is here. Where is the government?”
The venue was packed, Mr Kumar said, adding that a high-level committee had been formed to investigate the incident.
“The government’s priority is to provide all possible assistance to the injured and the families of the deceased,” he said.
A video shared by news agency PTI showed the injured being taken to the hospital for treatment.
Satya Prakash, an official in neighboring Etah district, said: “The post-mortem process is on and the matter is under investigation.”
In Hathras, the screams of distraught family members could be heard at the local hospital.
Many people tried to find their loved ones, but many bodies remained unclaimed.
There is a shortage of ambulances – each ambulance can only carry two to three bodies. Hathras is filled with despair and pain.
Accidents often occur at religious events in India as large crowds gather in small spaces and safety measures are rarely adhered to.
In 2018, about 60 people were killed in an attack train hit Join the crowd watching the celebrations of the Hindu festival Dusshera.
In 2013, 115 people were killed in a crush during a Hindu festival in Madhya Pradesh.
Additional reporting by Abhishek Mathur in Hathras
