NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Forty-two homeless people were trampled to death on Sunday and 37 were injured in a stampede during the distribution of flood relief supplies at a shelter in southern India, officials and witnesses said. The early morning incident occurred in Chennai as thousands of people lined up for the relief supplies.

“Over 5,000 people rushed in as the gates of the shelter opened, causing the stampede,” S. Chandramohan, top administrator of Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state, told Reuters by telephone.

The official had earlier given a death toll of 43 but Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa told reporters that 42 people had died in the incident and 37 were injured.

Police said the stampede took place when it began to rain at the centre, located in a government school building, while some officials said a rumour about a shortfall in supplies led to panic among the crowd.

“People started rushing to safer places, leading to the stampede,” police said.

Television channels showed chaotic scenes outside the relief centre with many women wailing as bodies were ferried away in police vans and ambulances.

Chennai and many other parts of Tamil Nadu have been lashed by heavy rains in the past few weeks. Many coastal villages have been inundated, leaving thousands homeless.

“I came here with my mother but I am going home alone,” 28-year-old Kalyani, whose 51-year-old mother Manikambal died in the stampede, told Reuters by telephone.

“When they opened the gates in the early hours people rushed inside and did not notice the rope tied in the middle to regulate the people,” Kalyani said.

“People in the front got entangled and fell while others fell over them,” she said, adding that a mound of slippers, shoes and torn clothes could be seen at the site.—Reuters