Source: The Hindu
TIRUMALA, INDIA, September 25, 2001: Three devotees were injured, one of them seriously, in the stampede that took place at the conclusion of the auspicious Garuda Seva festival on Monday night. There was a heavy congregation of pilgrims at the Vahana mandapam where the festival was to conclude, situated in the vicinity of the main temple complex. The T.T.D. management as a precautionary measure had erected iron barricades in the Vahana mandapam area. The crowd was so heavy that all the measures taken by the T.T.D. proved insufficient leading to the stampede. According to temple sources, it is believed that the devotees standing close to the barricades could not withstand the pressure from the crowd at their back and fell onto the barricades.