Stampede at Indian temple kills 148

Tens of thousands of people had thronged the Naina Devi shrine in Himachal Pradesh state to attend week-long religious festivities when the rumour of a landslide triggered panic among devotees on Sunday.

"The death toll as of now is 148, and 48 people are injured," a police spokesman said early Monday.

Most people died of suffocation, and around half the dead were women or children, officials said.

The bodies of devotees were strewn along the steep four kilometre (2.5-mile) path leading up to the temple, located about 150 kilometres (90 miles) from the state capital Shimla, witnesses said.

The shrine, however, was open to worshippers on Monday, temple officials said.

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