The incident took place early Saturday at the Mata Vaishnav Devi shrine, where thousands of Hindus were gathered to pay their respect in the hilly town of Katra near southern Jammu city.

In a message on Twitter, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he had extremely saddened by the loss of lives due to a stampede at Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan.  He also offered his condolences to the bereaved families of the victims. (ILKHA)