VIJAYAWADA: A stampede at a privately run temple in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh killed nine devotees — eight women and a 13-year-old boy — and left more than 25 injured Saturday morning, after a railing collapse on a narrow staircase caused panic in a crowd of over 20,000 gathered for Karthika Ekadashi. The toll may rise as the condition of some of the injured is critical.

The Venkateswara Swamy temple, located at Kasibugga under Palasa mandal and modelled on the Tirumala shrine in Tirupati, was built by 94-year-old Hari Mukund Panda from Odisha and opened just four months ago. One gate serving as both entry and exit, poor crowd control, and lack of official clearance turned the pilgrimage into chaos. “Nobody is responsible — it was an act of god,” Panda said.

District police chief KV Maheswara Reddy said the main sanctum sits on the first floor with about 20 steps leading to it.“A railing along the staircase, believed to be poorly constructed, collapsed and caused a person to fall, triggering panic as the packed crowd surged forward,” he said.Calling the deaths “extremely heart-breaking”, CM N Chandrababu Naidu said: “Had police been informed in advance, they could have implemented a crowd management plan. Those responsible will face action.”Venkateswara Swamy temple at Kasibugga, visited by around 3,000 devotees on Saturdays, saw a crowd nearly seven times that number on the day of the stampede as it was the first Karthika Ekadashi since the temple’s inauguration. With no prior approval for the gathering or adequate security, the few guards were overwhelmed.District police chief K V Maheswara Reddy said temple authorities failed to alert police or the district administration about the festival and the likely crowd. Police have registered a case under section 100 (culpable homicide) of BNS and detained four temple staff for questioning.The shrine isn’t registered with Andhra Pradesh’s endowments department, which oversees thousands of temples. “Everything looked fine around 9am, but suddenly the number of devotees surged. Narrow stairway was choked. I was nearby when the railing broke and people started falling over each other,” said R Ramanamma, a devotee.The deceasad were identified as E Chinnammi (46), R Vijaya (48) from Tekkali; M Neelamma (60) from Vajrapukotturu; D Rajeswari (60), G Rupa (50), B Brunda from Mandasa; Ch Yasodamma (56) from Nandigam; D Ammulamma from Kasibugga; and L Nikhil (13) from Sompeta. Two women — B Kalavathi and R Kumari — remain critical. “I have instructed officials to ensure proper treatment for the injured,” chief minister Naidu said.PM Modi said he was “pained” by the tragedy. “My thoughts are with those who have lost their near and dear ones. I pray that the injured recover soon,” he said, announcing Rs 2 lakh ex gratia to each victim’s family and Rs 50,000 to the injured. Saturday’s crush was the third major temple tragedy in Andhra Pradesh this year — following six deaths at Tirupati’s Vaikunta Ekadashi token centre on Jan 8 and seven killed in a wall collapse at Visakhapatnam’s Simhachalam temple on Apr 30.