Reaction
Shock and disbelief spread through India as the news of the stampede trickled in.
Rajnath Singh, the current leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party in India, responded to the stampede by releasing a statement in the hours after the disaster. "I am deeply saddened to learn about the tragic death of over 100 pilgrims. I convey my deep felt condolences to the family members of all those who have lost their lives or have been injured in the incident," he said.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal responded by announcing an inquiry into the incident.
The Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari, and the Speaker of Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee, conveyed condolences to the families of those killed and injured in the incident.
The Tribune criticized the poor infrastructure and ill-maintained roads at the shrine, reporting that a team of doctors and paramedics were unable to reach the site of the accident until hours after the stampede. The Times of India observed that there had been no improvement in crowd management even though a similar stampede took place in the shrine in 1978 after rumors of a landslide spread, killing 65 people. The area around Naina Devi suffered a mobile-network jam due to the large number of phone calls by worried relatives.
Read more about this topic: 2008 Naina Devi Temple Stampede
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