Sabarimala stampede: At least 20 pilgrims injured, two critical

SABARIMALA: At least 20 Sabarimala pilgrims were injured, two of them seriously, in a stampede at the famous hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa on Sunday, which witnessed a heavy rush of devotees. Updates:

#WATCH: Spot visuals of the Sabarimala temple stampede, 20 pilgrims injured & one critical #Kerala pic.twitter.com/vw9zGzKyyC

— ANI (@ANI_news) December 25, 2016

• Police has initiated crowd control measures,situation under control says Easwar
• Sabarimala temple stampede: 20 persons injured, most of them belong to Andhra Pradesh: Ayyappa Dharma Sena president Rahul Easwar: ANI
• The two grievously injured pilgrims have suffered head and rib injuries but they are conscious.
• The injured have been admitted to Sannidhanam hospital, Pathnamthitta Collector R Girija said.
• There was a heavy rush of pilgrims today, the penultimate day before culmination of the 41-day mandala pooja.
• Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said there was a heavy rush of pilgrims at the shrine when the thanga angi was brought.
• He was at the temple shortly before the stampede and had left the shrine after deeparadhana (evening prayers) with Thanga Angi.
• The minister said he was on his way to the hospital.

She said there was a "small stampede" between Sannidhanam and Malikapuram and about 20 persons were injured. The stampede occurred just as the holy Thanga Angi procession carrying ornaments worn by Lord Ayyappa on Mandala pooja tomorrow had reached the temple this evening. The procession starts from Aranmula Sree Parthasarthy temple four days before the Mandala pooja. Police are restricting movement of pilgrims from downhill Pamba to sannidhanam because of the heavy rush.