Allahabad:
One ladoo, a steel plate, twenty rupees and a handkerchief - this is what drew close to 15,000 people to an ashram in Pratapgarh on Thursday morning, 60 kilometres from Allahabad. They waited for hours, lining up, waiting for the ashram's gate to open.
As the crowd built, it began pressing upon the gate which came unhinged. Witnesses say a tent put up nearby also collapsed, adding to the panic. Within seconds, there was chaos.
Young children, too weak to hold their own in the surge, fell down and were trampled to death. Thirty-six of them. The other 27 who died immediately were women. Rajkumari, in a red sari, sobs as she explains "Four of my relatives are inside...but I have not been able to see anybody."
The function at the ashram is an annual ceremony organized by Kripalu Maharaj, a local swami, on his wife's death anniversary.
The police says that this year's turnout was larger than they had anticipated.
Staring at a mound of chappals, a stark symbol of the size of the tragedy, a police official admits, "Surely, it's a matter of negligence...they could have been better prepared, barricaded the place, deployed people. We are investigating the incident."
The state government has asked the Allahabad Commissoner to submit a report on the disaster within 24 hours.
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