Six people were killed and 30 were injured in a stampede ahead of the annual Vaikunta Ekadasi festival in India.

Thousands of devotees had gathered at MGM High School in Bairagipatteda to collect tokens for a free glimpse of deity at Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India.

The devotees began lining up at the counters to collect tokens on Wednesday morning but by the evening the crowd had become unruly, with pushing and jostling.

BR Naidu, the chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which oversees temple operations, said that the stampede occurred at two locations when a gate was opened to assist a woman who was feeling unwell, causing the crowd to surge forward in panic.

Shocking footage shows people desperately trampling over one another to escape and a local hospital filled with injured.

The incident took place on December 8th 2024.

BR Naidu called the tragedy "a painful lesson" and pledged to ensure such incidents never recur. "

TTD board member Bhanu Prakash admitted lapses in crowd management and sought forgiveness from devotees.

He said: "We take full responsibility and assure strict measures to prevent this in the future."