At least 40 dead in India temple stampede: official

Posted 10 6 2008 6:45PM

JODHPUR, India (AFP) - At least 40 people were killed and 60 others injured Tuesday in a stampede at a Hindu temple in the western Indian city of Jodhpur, a top local official said.

"Forty bodies have been taken to hospitals and 60 people have been admitted to hospital," top administrative official Kiran Soni Gupta told AFP, warning the death toll could rise even further.

More than 10,000 people had gathered at the Chamunda temple in Jodhpur's centuries-old hilltop Mehrangarh Fort at the start of a major Hindu festival when the incident occurred.

The official said that a wall leading up to the temple, a popular tourist attraction, collapsed, killing several people and sparking the stampede.

"People are still buried under the wall. We are pulling them out," she said.

In August, around 150 worshippers died in a similar stampede in northern India.

In March, nine people were killed at a temple in central India during a religious festival.