11-year-old girl collapses and dies while waiting in queue at Sabrimala temple

mangaloretoday.com

Sabrimala, Dec 11, 2023: An 11-year-old girl from Tamil Nadu died of a heart ailment on Saturday while waiting in the long queue for darshan at Kerala’s Sabarimala temple.

The girl, who had been battling the disease since the age of three, collapsed amid the heavy rush of pilgrims and was pronounced dead at a hospital.

 

The renowned Sabarimala temple is currently experiencing an overwhelming surge of devotees. Some pilgrims had been waiting for darshan for up to 18 hours, leading to frustration and chaos as many breached the queue system.

Due to the long waiting time, pilgrims resorted to jumping over barricades, causing an uncontrollable rush near the holy steps.

In response to the escalating crowd concerns, Kerala Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan and Travancore Devaswom Board President PS Prasanth convened an emergency meeting.

A decision was made to reduce the virtual queue booking limit by 10,000, setting the new maximum to 80,000 per day, down from the previous cap of 90,000.

To bolster safety measures, Kerala Health Minister Veena George announced the deployment of a special rescue ambulance service, Kanivu 108, at Sannidhanam, ensuring immediate medical attention for any emergencies that may arise amongst the throngs of worshippers.

Courtesy: India Today