Authorities of one of India’s richest temples have apologised after at least six pilgrims were killed in a stampede in the southern temple town of Tirupati. The devotees were waiting in queues to collect tokens from over 90 counters to offer prayers to Lord Venkateshwara Swamy on Wednesday when the incident took place, local police said.

In spite of lakhs of people visiting the temple towns of Tirumala and Tirupati, stampedes involving devotees are rare. So what happened this time? We explain.

How Did The Tirupati Stampede Took Place? On Wednesday night, about 4000 devotees were queueing up for special darshan tokens. Multiple media reports have said that a woman devotee now identified as Mallika suddenly fell ill while she was waiting in the queue The queue was for one of the token counters at Bairagi Pattida Park.

The incident took place on Wednesday night after thousands gathered in the temple town of Tirupati in southern Andhra Pradesh state. Visuals showed a swell of people jostling while the tickets were being distributed at counters set up by temple authorities.