Anjana, wife of Srinivas Shetty who died during Friday’s stampede at Sabarimala, breaks down after her husband’s body was brought home to Bangalore on Sunday. (PTI)

Jan. 16 (PTI): At the Kumily government hospital, a weeping Govinda Appa Kalimani Swamy clutched a group photograph showing 13 smiling faces. Only seven from his team of 13 Sabarimala pilgrims will now be accompanying him home to Belgaum, Karnataka.

Govinda’s six dead companions are among the 102 pilgrims killed in Friday night’s stampede at Pullumedu, 7km downhill from the Kerala hill shrine to Ayyappa.

One of the dead was M. Saba, 24, a Muslim. The temple is open to devotees of all faiths, although women aged between 10 and 50 are not allowed in.

Vavar, a close friend of Lord Ayyappa according to legend, was a Muslim. Pilgrims first pray at the Vavar mosque before trekking to the temple.

Saba was part of a 20-member group from Karwar, Karnataka, and had undertaken the two-month-long penance required of pilgrims before they visit the Sabarimala temple.

Lekshaman, 25, from Kadalur in Tamil Nadu, said he watched his twin Raman get crushed to death in front of his eyes but was unable to help. Krishna and Pramod today cremated their brother Prashant, father of a four-year-old.

Some of the injured victims died because the 30km journey from Pullumedu to the Vandiperiyar hospital took six-and-a-half hours, said Aneesh, 35, a local man who had been among the first rescuers to reach the tragedy spot.

“The road was narrow and there were lots of vehicles. By the time we reached the hospital, most of those who were barely alive had died,” Aneesh said.

“Some were crying for a few drops of water... they fell silent after a while during the bumpy ride.”

Aneesh said he had run to the site after hearing a loud sound and saw the stampede take place. Immediately, he and two lorry drivers carried some of the dead and injured to the trucks and set off for the hospital.

Had there been more police and lights but less traffic on the road, maybe some of the victims would have been alive, he said.

Some people blamed the tragedy partly on the lifting of the restrictions on auto-rickshaws on the route this year. Preliminary reports had said yesterday that the stampede was set off by a collision between a jeep and an auto on the narrow, congested mountain path. Today, some blamed only the jeep, saying it had ploughed into devotees and triggered panic.

However, a man said that a large number of autos and other small vehicles had crowded the route, ferrying pilgrims to Pullumedu at Rs 300 to Rs 600 per trip.

Many of the regular Sabarimala pilgrims said they had taken the Pullumedu route this year because the more popular Pampa route was very crowded. With pilgrims on the Pullumedu route increasing, vendors had set up stalls, further narrowing the path.

The Kerala government and the Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the temple, came under fire for failing to implement the recommendations of a panel that had probed a 1998 stampede on the Pampa route that had killed 52 pilgrims.

The Justice Chandrasekhara Menon panel had suggested that alternative routes be developed to ease pressure, and basic amenities and security be provided on the Pullumedu route.

It had suggested a new base camp at Uppupara, the spot where Friday’s stampede happened, complete with car parks and toilets. It wanted the trekking path widened by at least four metres and provided with proper lights, iron railings on either side, and resting places.