Gangasagar Mela stampede: Six die in mad rush to board ship

KOLKATA: Six pilgrims, all women, died due to suffocation during a mad rush of the crowds to board a vessel at Kachuberia on their way home from Gangasagar fair after taking the holy dip, a minister said. "Six aged women died at Kachuberia temporary hospital due to heart attack. They had fallen senseless due to suffocation," Manturam Pakhira, state Sundarbans development minister, told IANS over phone. "The mishap occurred as the pilgrims got imapatient due to the long queue at jetty number five in Kachuberi and tried to outdo others in boarding the vessel," he said.