Seven arrested as stampede at Kolkata Durga Puja pandal kills 19

At least 19 people were killed, including a seven-year-old girl, when a stampede broke out at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Puja Pandal in Kolkata during the Durga Puja festival. The tragedy was triggered when an announcement over the public address system warned that the pandal was in danger of collapsing, prompting thousands of devotees to rush for the exits simultaneously. Rain had lashed the city at the time, leaving the surrounding streets dangerously slippery.

Seven people, among them organisers of the Chorbagan Durga Puja, have since been arrested in connection with the disaster. Some families lost more than one member in the crush, and two of the victims were from Muzaffarpur in Bihar. Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited those injured in hospital following the incident.

Junior doctors at Kolkata Medical College alleged that patients from the stampede were mismanaged on arrival, claims that the West Bengal Health Minister denied. The tragedy has raised urgent questions about crowd management and coordination between authorities and puja organisers at one of the city's most popular festival venues. Concerns have also been voiced about whether existing safety protocols are adequate for events that draw such large numbers of devotees.