Amaravathi: Four devotees died and four more were reportedly injured in the stampede caused during the distribution of tokens for Vaikuntha Dwara Darshan in Tirupathi on Wednesday evening. The deceased were known to have come from Salem in Tamil Nadu.

The Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam (TTD) Board has established three centers for issuing tokens to devotees wishing to have Vaikuntha Dwara Darshan of Lord Venkateshwara on January 10, 11 and 12. They had planned to issue 1.2 lakh tokens in three days, by issuing 40,000 tokens per day starting at 5 am Thursday, January 9.

The devotees who had come from various states including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Telangana had gathered by Wednesday evening so they could get their tokens as early as possible on Wednesday morning.

To prevent the devotees from making the roads crowded, the TTD officials made the devotees wait inside Padmavathi Park, from where they were let out in queues to get their tokens at their respective token centers when the stampede happened.

Tokens were being given out at various centers at Srinivasam, Vishnu Nivasam, Ramachandra Pushkarini, Alipiri Bhudevi Complex, Emmarpalli ZPHS, Bairagipatteda Ramanaidu School, Satyanarayanapuram ZPHS and Indira Maidan in Tirupathi town.

The stampede happened at Srinivasam where the four devotees died, and also at the Bairagipatteda Ramanaidu School where four devotees were injured.

The injured were shifted to Sri Venkateshwara Ramnarayan Ruia General Hospital for treatment.

(More details are awaited).