Three major temple tragedies kill 22, injure nearly 100 across Andhra in 2025

Amaravati: As many as 22 people died and nearly 100 were injured in three major temple tragedies in Andhra Pradesh in 2025, with the Kasibugga temple mishap on Saturday being the latest.

The Venkateswara temple disaster at Kasibugga town in Srikakulam district on Saturday claimed nine lives and injured over two dozen others, when a staircase railing collapsed, causing people to fall on one another in a packed crowd.

Before this, seven people were killed in April when a rain-soaked wall collapsed at the Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Simhachalam near Visakhapatnam. Earlier in January, six devotees had died and nearly 40 injured during a stampede at Bairagi Patteda in Tirupati, where hundreds had gathered for tickets to the Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple on Tirumala hills.

In less than a week, Andhra Pradesh has been battered by a series of calamities, which included a bus inferno in Kurnool district that left 19 dead, at least Rs 5,244-crore loss inflicted by cyclonic storm 'Montha' during this week and now the Srikakulam temple tragedy.

The last week of October which extended into November, proved to be one of the deadliest for the southern state in recent times, with natural disasters and temple accidents claiming dozens of lives and leaving widespread destruction.