At least 21 women were killed in a stampede in northern India today when supporters of a local politician began giving out free sarees to celebrate his birthday, officials and police said.
More than 5,000 people were crammed into a public park in the town of Lucknow when officials announced the sarees - lengthy strips of often brightly coloured cloth used as traditional attire by women - would be given away.
"There was a sudden rush towards where the sarees were kept," said district magistrate Aradhana Shukla, adding that at least 21 people were killed. Police said the victims were all women.
The state politician celebrating the birthday, Lalji Tandon of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, had left the park by the time the stampede happened, witnesses said.
"We had come here to hear his speech. He celebrated his birthday and went away and gave us death," an unidentified woman at the ground told Zee News.
Piles of sarees lay in one corner of the park, hours after the stampede. Women, who were mostly from villages around Lucknow, which is the capital of most populous Uttar Pradesh state, sat outside the park wailing.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who is contesting this month's national elections from Lucknow, planned to fly to his constituency to meet victims' families.