At least seven people were killed and 19 others injured in a stampede at the Ashok Dham temple in Bihar’s Lakhisarai district on Monday, as thousands of devotees gathered for prayers during the holy Hindu month of Shravan.

The victims were reportedly all women. 

The incident occurred during the third Monday of Shravan, when large numbers of devotees visit Shiva temples to offer holy water to Lord Shiva. Reports said tens of thousands of people had gathered at Ashok Dham, with some estimates putting the crowd at around 50,000.

Authorities said overcrowding appears to have played a major role. Lakhisarai District Magistrate Shailendra Kumar said a barricade broke under pressure from the crowd, causing people to fall on one another. The arrival of two trains reportedly contributed to a sudden increase in the number of devotees at the site.

A senior police officer, Shivam Kumar, said an electric pole fell during the incident, triggering panic. Officials have stressed that the exact sequence of events and cause of the stampede will be established through an investigation. Some reports said rumours of a live electrical wire may have intensified the panic, but this has not been independently confirmed.

The injured were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment, while police and emergency teams were deployed at the temple and surrounding areas.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to the families of those killed and wished the injured a speedy recovery. Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary also expressed grief and directed authorities to ensure prompt medical treatment for the injured. President Droupadi Murmu also mourned the deaths.

The incident has renewed concerns about crowd management and safety arrangements at major religious gatherings in India. In March, nine people were killed in a separate stampede at a temple in Bihar’s Nalanda district.

Authorities are continuing to investigate the incident and determine whether further safety measures could have prevented the tragedy.

Qatar denied on Saturday that it ​was holding Iranian pilots, ‌saying they had violated Qatari airspace earlier ​this year and ​had failed to respond ⁠to attempts to ​contact them.

A Qatari ​foreign ministry spokesperson said on X that search and ​rescue teams ​later found the remains of ‌one ⁠of the pilots and that it had contacted Iran to ​coordinate ​a ⁠handover.

The spokesperson said Tehran had ​yet to respond ​to ⁠an invitation to review details of ⁠its ​operations.

Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will group senior ministers, hold ‌joint exercises and deepen defence industry cooperation under a military pact signed between the regional powers last week, Turkey’s defence ministry said on Thursday.

The three Sunni Muslim U.S. allies, alarmed by ​a regional conflagration that has brought Iranian missile fire onto Gulf ​oil exporters, signed the “Mecca Joint Defence Agreement” on August 7. They ⁠said the accord stipulates that an armed attack against any member would be ​regarded as an attack on all, similar to NATO’s Article 5 collective defence clause, Reuters reported.

At a ​weekly briefing in Ankara, the defence ministry said the pact’s fundamental goal was to ensure defence and military ties were put on a “more institutional and sustainable” footing.

“Under the accord, strategic political ​and military mechanisms plan to be established involving the Defence Ministers, Foreign Ministers, ​and Chiefs of General Staff/Armed Forces Commanders, and that coordination among the three countries will ‌be conducted ⁠at the highest level,” it said.

The ministry added that joint military exercises involving land, naval, and air forces, as well as air defence and unmanned systems were planned, in addition to deeper defence industry cooperation.

“The aim is to provide not ​only product and system ​supply, but also ⁠joint development and production, technology cooperation, and sustainable maintenance and logistics support,” it said, adding that unmanned and autonomous systems, ​electronic warfare and artificial intelligence capabilities would be prioritised.

Turkey, which ​has NATO’s ⁠second-largest army, has said the pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan and top oil exporter Saudi Arabia was open to expansion — with Egypt as a potential candidate — and did not ⁠seek ​to replace any existing alliances, read the report.

The ministry also said ​Turkey was participating in meetings in Jeddah aimed at establishing an international coalition to protect Red Sea shipping.