. An estimated 25,000 people were on the mountain at the time.Pilgrims already at the temple began running down the narrow path leading from the peak. There, they collided with devotees winding their way up.With a concrete wall on one side and a precipice on the other, there was nowhere to escape and they were crushed. At one point, a guard rail broke and dozens of people fell to their deaths.But survivors said police were also partly to blame, with officers blocking the escape route below."The police did not allow people to step back. Meanwhile, people started coming down from above shouting go back, go back," said Ramesh Kumar Saini, who was at the temple. "Since the police did not allow the people to go back, this tragedy happened."The result was horrific.The bodies of the devotees — many dressed in brightly colored holiday clothes — carpeted the path, intertwined with flattened iron railings. Many still held the flowers and food they planned to offer at the temple.Visiting the scene, Himachal Pradesh state Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhuma announced an investigation into the cause of the disaster would be set up and said compensation of $2,380 would be paid to the families of each victim.Deadly stampedes are a relatively common occurrence at temples in India, where large crowds — sometimes hundreds of thousands of people — congregate in small areas lacking facilities to control big gatherings.Nevertheless, many of the faithful were undeterred after the disaster. By Monday m
