Kerala temple tragedy: A timeline of disasters at religious places across India over eight years

A massive fire swept through a temple in the southern Indian state of Kerala Sunday, killing more than 100 people and injuring at least 280 after thousands gathered to watch a fireworks display. It was the latest in a grim series of fires and stampedes at temples and during religious festivals, where huge crowds routinely gather. Here is a list of some of the worst such disasters in India in recent years: 2008  3 August: About 150 Hindu worshippers are killed in a temple stampede sparked by rumours of a landslide in northern Himachal Pradesh state. 30 September: Some 224 pilgrims die in a stampede when worshippers rush to reach a hilltop temple in the northern city of Jodhpur. 2010 4 4March: Sixty-three people, mostly women and children, are killed in a stampede at a temple where free clothes are being doled out in northern Uttar Pradesh state. 2011 14 January: Some 102 Hindu devotees are killed in a stampede which breaks out when thousands of pilgrims make their way home after an annual pilgrimage in Kerala state. [caption id=“attachment_2721670” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Footwear of pilgrims are seen on the ground following a stampede near the River Ganges in Haridwar on November 8, 2011[/caption] 8 November: Sixteen people including 14 women die in a stampede at a religious ceremony near the holy Hindu city of Haridwar. 2012 19 November: Eighteen women and children are crushed to death in a stampede when a rope bridge collapses at a Hindu festival in eastern Bihar state. 2013 10 February: At least 36 people are trampled to death as pilgrims head home from the Kumbh Mela religious festival on the banks of the River Ganges. 13 October: A stampede near a temple kills at least 115 people in Madhya Pradesh state, where up to 400,000 devotees were gathered. Twenty-one people, including all 17 police from a local station, are suspended after the tragedy. Ratangarh town where the disaster occurred was the scene of a similar stampede seven years earlier, when 50 people were crushed to death. 2014 18 January: At least 18 people die and more than 40 are injured in a stampede in Mumbai when a large crowd gathered to pay their last respects to a Muslim spiritual leader. [caption id=“attachment_2721672” align=“alignright” width=“380”] ndian officals stand next to bodies kept outside of a hospital as relatives try to identify victims of a huge fire at the Puttingal Devi Temple in Paravur on April 10, 2016.. AFP[/caption] 3 October: Some 32 people are killed in a stampede at a popular Hindu festival in eastern India after panic erupts following rumours of an electrical fire. 2015 14 July: A stampede on the banks of a holy river crushes 27 pilgrims to death and injures dozens in southern India. 2016 10 April: A huge fire sweeps through a temple in southern India, killing more than 100 people.