Majority of victims in Kolkata Durga Puja stampede are women, children

The majority of victims in the Kolkata Durga Puja stampede were women and children. The list of 19 deceased persons shared by the police on Sunday (October 18, 2026) includes 13 females, two of whom were minors.

Kolkata pandal stampede LIVE on October 18, 2026

The two other minors were males, and the youngest victims of the tragedy — a 13-year-old boy from Agarpara, North 24 Parganas, and a 14-year-old boy from Purba Bardhaman.

Several young women have also lost their lives in the tragedy, including two 17-year-olds and two 18-year-olds; four of the other women were in their 20s and 30s. 

The oldest victims were 66-year-old Bikash Bhattacharya from Salkia, Howrah, and 59-year-old Dilip Ghosh from Baranagar in North 24 Parganas. 

Among the 19 deceased, seven were from North 24 Parganas district, one from South 24 Parganas, and one from Nadia. Kolkata, Hooghly, Howrah, and Purba Bardhaman district account for two victims each. Two relatives from neighbouring Bihar’s Muzaffarpur also lost their lives in the tragedy. 

Many of the victims are from districts outside Kolkata and had only come to the city to participate in the State capital’s famous Durga Puja celebrations. 

“Puja is forever over for us now. We lost our daughter during the pujas,” Vinod Haldar, a rickshaw puller and bereaved father of a 17-year-old, said. His daughter, a resident of New Town, was visiting Durga Puja pandals in the city with her friends on Saturday (October 17, 2026) evening when the festivities turned into a tragedy for the family. Mr. Haldar was informed by his daughter’s friends, who are devastated by the loss of their friend. 

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has said he would visit the families of the deceased at their homes in the coming days. 

Long way home 

Families queued outside the mortuary in the northern part of the city on Sunday afternoon, waiting for the bodies to be handed over after post-mortem. 

Precautions would be taken to ensure dignity while handing over the bodies of the deceased, Mr. Adhikari said. State Health Minister Sharadwat Mukherjee and Minister Tapas Ray visited the families and paid their respect to the deceased.

Family members broke down as they completed the formalities and carried the bodies to the serpentine line of hearse vans waiting outside the mortuary. The vans will transport the bodies back to their homes. 

“We are struggling to get any answers. We got a call that our daughter was at the hospital, and we rushed here only to realise she had passed away. How will we go back home when she is not there?“ a bereaved family member told The Hindu. 

Several spectators were seen visiting the site of the stampede, the Chorbagan Sarbajanin Durga Puja, through the day. “Can you tell me where it happened?” a woman asked while attempting to click a photo of the stampede site.

Many got into verbal altercations with local police volunteers, who tried to remove them from the area as the investigation into the incident was underway.