Rain triggers stampede at relief center, killing 35

NEW DELHI, India – A stampede at a relief center in southern India to aid victims of recent floods killed at least 35 and injured 35 early today, police said.

The deaths in Madras occurred as heavy rains started suddenly and nearly 3,000 people waiting for hours to collect food coupons tried to run for cover into a government-run school where the aid is distributed, B. Valarmaehi, the Tamil Nadu state minister for rural industries, told the Associated Press.

There was a sudden rush as the school gate was opened, she said.

The flood victims, whose homes have been damaged or destroyed by the recent downpours, had lined up in a narrow street leading to the school to collect the coupons that would have helped them get rice, kerosene and $22 in cash, the minister said.

The relief center does not house the flood victims but only distributes aid.

This was the second such incident in Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu state, in the past two months. In November, six people were killed in another stampede near a relief camp in a northern district of Madras.

At least 430 people have been killed in Tamil Nadu state and half a million left homeless by heavy rains that have pounded the state since late October. The state receives most of its annual rainfall from the northeast monsoon, which is often marked by cyclone activity in the Bay of Bengal.