Goa stampede: Saw 4 people falling dead, cops were unaware of the tragedy, says 18-year-old witness

SHIRGAOAt around 4am on Saturday morning, Yash Gaonkar returned to his Nanoda home, opened the gate, and broke down. “Mummy!” he recalls screaming, finally breaking down after having witnessed a tragedy at just 18. He and his friends helped pull out six victims from under the piles of injured people at the Shree Devi Lairai Jatra in Shirgao, Bicholim.
Yash was himself a ‘dhond’—a devotee who observes strict fast and abstinence in the run-up to the Shirgao jatra. This year, although he could not be part of the rituals with a death in the family, Yash was attending the jatra with friends, when tragedy struck.
“As I could not go to the ‘homkund’ (the ritual coal embers), I was returning to my aunt’s place where we reside every year during the jatra. When the ‘dhonds’ were walking towards the ‘homkund’, we saw police help the ‘dhonds’ walk in front by keeping the crowds at bay. In the process, one lady fell to the ground, and that was the beginning,” said Yash, an engineering student who stays in Farmagudi.
He then saw more women trip over after losing their balance on the sloping road.
“I saw at least four dead on the spot. One boy and his aunt had both died. I, along with my friends, tried to remove at least six bodies. We had to rush to the police camp to inform them of the incident. They were unaware of the incident until then. I also called the emergency number for ambulances,” he said.
The rescue operations began around 20 minutes later.
“It did not hit me what had just happened when I was pulling out the victims. When it did, my hands began shaking. I told a police officer that I am scared, and he tried to help calm me down,” he said.
Yash said that he felt failed crowd management measures caused the preventable deaths.
“There are two roads on the route. Only one-way movement could have been allowed on both. The crowd management was not proper. I was also pushed, but I took support of a compound wall and prevented a fall. Others could not. I come from a place like Ponda where multiple jatras take place, but have never seen such a thing,” said Yash, referring to the stampede.
Salil Gaonkar, who resides close to the spot where the tragedy occured, agreed that the poor arrangements were difficult to ignore. “There was an announcement system only at the temple and at another location, not across the area where the jatra rituals were taking place, even though the number of devotees attending is going up day by day,” he said.
Sajubai Korgaonkar from Vasco was staying at a relative’s house along the road where the tragedy occured. “At around 2.45am, we were woken up by the commotion,” she said. “When we rushed out, we saw people jumping over the compound wall into the house, even damaging property in the process. Some women came inside the compound wall and collapsed. They were suffocating, and we threw buckets full of water on them to awaken them,” she said.
Korgaonkar said that there was a lot of confusion as the number of cops deployed was severely insufficient.
“The ‘dhonds’ are supposed to be disciplined, but we see them going berserk every year as they walk after their bath to the ‘homkund’, as they are in a hurry to finish the rituals. And such an incident was inevitable eventually,” said Ravina Madgaonkar, a woman who lives close to the spot of the tragedy.