Stampede at religious bathing festival leaves 27 people dead, dozens injured

At least 27 people were killed and dozens injured on Tuesday in a stampede during a Hindu religious bathing festival on a river bank in southern India.

The stampede occurred in Andhra Pradesh state as tens of thousands of people pushed forward to bathe in the Godavari River on the first day of the Pushkaralu festival, said Arun Kumar, a state administrator.

The stampede was triggered by some pilgrims who were trying to retrieve their shoes, which had fallen off in the rush to the river bank, police said.