MUMBAI: With a massive crowd gathering to pay last respects to Dawoodi Bohra community’s spiritual leader Syedna Burhanuddin, a stampede killed at least 18 people when the gates to the residence were shut shortly after midnight here on Saturday.

More than 40 people were injured in the incident.

“Organisers had closed the gates. The crowd was so huge that people started suffocating, some fainted and then people began running and falling on each other in panic,” Mumbai police chief Satyapal Singh told reporters. He admitted that police and organisers had failed to anticipate the turnout.

Thousands adorned in white scarves and caps gathered on the streets for the funeral procession.—AFP