At least 116 killed in crush at Hindu gathering in northern India, say officials

Most of the dead are women or children, say officials, with suggestions a dust storm created panic as thousands were leaving a prayer meeting in Hathras, south-east of Delhi

At least 116 people, most of them women and children, have been killed in a crowd crush at a Hindu religious gathering in northern India, and more than 80 others were injured, local police have said.

The crush happened when thousands of devotees tried to leave a prayer meeting, or satsang, with a local religious leader in Hathras district, Uttar Pradesh state. The attendees were exiting the venue when a dust storm blinded their vision, leading to a melee and the subsequent tragic incident," Chaitra V, a divisional commissioner of Aligarh city in Uttar Pradesh, told Agence France-Presse.