An incident happen in Janki temple in Pratapgarh District in Uttar Pradesh state where at least 63 people have been killed and scored of others injured in a stampede at a temple in a small town.

A large crowd gathered on Thursday for a ritual of feast and distribution of free utensils and clothes which is to mark the anniversary of the death of the wife of a Hindu holy man who runs a charitable trust.

The town where the tragedy occurred is about 180 kilometers southeast of the state capital, Lucknow.

Police say the stampede took place when a large gate collapsed and fell on some devotees. A senior police officer in Pratapgarh district, Brij Lal, says this caused the crowd to panic.

The people gathered there are around 6000 and mostly are local. The police mentioned that it is not clear what cause the gathe to collapse.Some reports say it was under construction.

As people tried to escape, many tripped and fell. The victims were mostly poor villagers who had gone to get the free gifts.

Rescue operations continued for several hours, with local people joining the police to extricate those trapped. The injured were taken to hospitals in nearby towns.

Witnesses say there were not enough volunteers or arrangements to control the large crowd.

This kind of cases happen before many times where in 2008, nearly 300 people died in two separeted stampedes at temples in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan states. Stampedes have claimed many lives at religious ceremonies held at temples in small towns, where the local administration is not equipped to handle large crowds.