Goa stampede: Minor incident happened at same site during last year's fest, says official

Seven killed, 80 injured in temple stampede; committee investigates cause, negligence, and previous incidents for factual report.

A committee probing the stampede at a temple festival in North Goa has found that a similar incident on a minor scale had occurred at the same event, and the spot was accident-prone, a senior official said on Sunday (May 4, 2025).

Seven persons were killed, and more than 80 sustained injuries in the stampede that occurred when thousands of devotees thronged the narrow lanes leading to the temple of Goddess Sree Lairai Devi in Shirgaon village for an annual festival in the wee hours of Saturday.

The official said the fact-finding committee constituted by the government recorded statements of senior police and district officials in charge of crowd management at the event.

The government has constituted a committee chaired by Sandeep Jacques, commissioner and secretary (Revenue), with deputy inspector general Varsha Sharma, Director of Transport Pravimal Abhishek and Superintendent of Police Tikam Singh Verma to probe into the incident.

Talking to PTI, the senior government official said the stampede broke out on a slope, which was prone to such accidents every year, and the committee is trying to find out the exact trigger for it.

"We have gathered that a similar incident, but on a minor scale, had happened during the temple festival last year at the same spot," he said.

The official said the committee will also examine why precautions were not taken to prevent the incident.