The 30-foot statue of Ganesh, the Hindu deity of success and good fortune, collapsed on a crowd of Indian worshipers during the recent Immersion Festival, killing one and hurting three others, according to the Christian News.
A video uploaded by YouTuber Madz Papa on Sept. 28 shows a large group of revellers gathering to see the giant elephant-headed idol. Moments later, people start to scream as the statue begins to tilt and then fall right smack into the crowd.
According to a report by The Hindu, the statue got entangled in electrical wires. When the festival organisers tried to untangle the wires, the statue crashed first into a building and then fell upon the worshippers in Hyderabad, India.
One person was crushed to death while three others were injured and treated at a hospital, reports said.
The Hindu said Immersion Day is a prominent religious festival in which the statue of the deity Ganesh is immersed in water. Idols made out of papier mache, milk, and other organic items are placed in pandals (a type of structure) for worship before taking them to the Bay of Bengal. Here, the statues are immersed and accompanied with prayers and supplications for aid in reaching goals and the removal of obstacles.
"On the final day of the celebrations, the idol of lord Ganesha is taken on the streets. People exhibit their enthusiasm and joy in the form of dancing and singing on the streets along with the idol," AstroYogi.com said. "The idol is finally immersed in the river or sea. The day witnesses a large number of devotees expressing their happiness and offering their prayers."
The Hindu god Ganesh is the deity of success, good fortune. He is also called Ganapati and Vinyaka and is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, a patron of the arts and sciences, and the deva of intellect and wisdom, said the report.
