Tirupati stampede: Six victims identified, 32 discharged from hospital

Mangalore Today News Network

Hyderabad, January 9, 2025: Around 32 devotees who were injured, in Wednesday’s stampede in Tirupati, were discharged on Thursday morning from SVIMs and RUIA hospitals where they were undergoing treatment since last night.

The stampede at Tirupati resulted in the deaths of six people, including five women. The deceased individuals have been identified as:

- G Rajani (47) from Visakhapatnam

- Lavanya (40) from Visakhapatnam

- Shanti (34) from Visakhapatnam

- Mettu Selam Mallika from Tamil Nadu

- Nirmala (50) from Karnataka

- Boddeti Naidu Babu from Narasipatnam

A control room has been set up at the Tirupati District Collector’s office to provide information on the injured individuals. The control room number is 0877-222-36007.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will be visiting Tirupati on Thursday to meet the families of the deceased and also the hospital where the injured are undergoing treatment.

Tragedy struck at Vishnu Nivasam in Tirupati during the distribution of Vaikunta Dwara Sarva Darshan tokens. The incident occurred when a large number of people rushed to collect tokens, leading to chaos.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) had arranged to issue tokens for the darshan starting January 9. As a result, devotees began queueing up from Wednesday evening. Large lines were set up in Alipiri, Srinivasa, Satyanarayanapuram,, Padmavathipuram and also at Vishnu Nivasam, a TTD accommodation complex opposite Tirupati Railway Station.

Due to the massive influx of devotees, there was a stampede in the queue lines, causing severe discomfort to the devotees. TTD had arranged to issue Vaikunta Dwara Darshan tokens through 94 counters at 9 Tirupati centres starting Thursday.

TTD planned Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam for 10 days from January 10 to 19. TTD planned to issue 1.2 lakh tokens at 90 counters set up at eight centres in Tirupati and four counters at one centre set up at Tirumala on January 9 from 5 am onwards. Already 1.40 lakh tickets and 19,500 SRIVANI tickets were released online for ten days of Vaikuntha Dwara darshan.