…At least when there are some 10,000 other people all flocking to the same place. Needless to say, these deaths are, well, needless:

Stampede kills 145 Hindu worshippers in India

CHANDIGARH, India — At least 145 people, mostly women and children, were crushed to death under the feet of thousands of pilgrims in a stampede at a temple in northern India on Sunday, police said.

Hindu worshippers, chanting and singing hymns, were snaking up a 4-km trail leading to a hill-top temple in Himachal Pradesh state when the stampede occurred.

Police said the pilgrims might have panicked after heavy rains caused some loose stones from a retaining wall along the hilly trail to fall.

The pilgrims started fleeing down the slope, breaking an iron side railing and trampling falling women and children under their feet, said Daljit Singh Manhas, a senior police officer.

“We have confirmation now that 145 people have been killed,” he told Reuters. “We found eight to 10 stones which had fallen off and probably scared the people, causing the stampede.”

At least 40 children and 45 women were among the dead, police and health department officials said.

Thousands of worshippers had gathered at the temple in Bilaspur district to pray to a Hindu goddess during the annual festival.

I don’t know which Hindu goddess they were planning to pray to, but by the looks of it she didn’t do much in terms of protecting her followers around her own temple. Or maybe the falling rocks were a sign that she didn’t want to be disturbed. What is sad is that this is not the first time such religious inspired fervor has caused so many needless deaths. As the article notes at the bottom:

Stampedes at temples are not uncommon in India where thousands of people gather to pray during festivals. In 2005, about 265 pilgrims were killed in a stampede near a temple in the western state of Maharashtra.

I have yet to hear of a single stampede killing a single person at a scientific conference. It seems to me that this is yet another example of how religion can inspire people to act in irrational ways that can have deadly consequences.