The collapse of a barricade set off a stampede of thousands of people at a Hindu religious festival yesterday in western India, killing at least 39 people, mostly women, and injuring 125 others.

　　The incident occurred as more than a million Hindu devotees assembled for a religious bathing festival in the Godavari River outside the town of Nasik, about 175 kilometers northeast of Mumbai.

　　Nasik Mayor Dashrath Patil said 39 people had been killed and at least 125 injured. Twenty-six of those killed were women, officials said, and two of the injured were police officers.

　　Ambulances rushed to the area as rescue workers urged the crowd to give way so the injured could be taken to hospitals. Cars and police vehicles were also used to bring in the dozens of injured people.

　　"There were some 50,000 people behind one barricade and they were pushing. The barricade suddenly broke and they just fell down," said Chhagan Bhujbal, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra state.

　　"People at the back just began walking on them and that's how the stampede happened," said Bhujbal. "It was a tragic accident."

　　Bamboo barricades are erected during the festival to try to funnel pilgrims safely to the water.

　　Survivors, many of them standing around in shock, said the collapse of the barricade set off a panic among falling, screaming pilgrims.

　　"Old women were crying, 'Take me out. Help me,"' said Lalji Mistry, a 35-year-old pilgrim who moved away from the crush in time.

　　Officials said the barricade, which was holding back a group of people waiting to get to the river, collapsed as they impatiently pushed against it.

　　"People, even women, were pushing forward. Due to the weight of the crowd, people started falling down," said Mistry, a marble craftsman from western Rajasthan state.

　　After the stampede, tens of thousands of pilgrims continued worshipping at the festival, which is spread across a 100 square kilometer area in Panchwati, a northern Nashik suburb.

　　"Many don't know what's going on. They are still worshipping," said Mistry.

　　Hundreds of worried relatives gathered outside Nasik Civil Hospital seeking information about missing family members. Pawan Modi, 55, a businessman from eastern Bihar state, said authorities refused them entry because they were worried about controlling the large crowd.

　　"I have been searching for my sister for hours. I hope she is inside and is well," said Modi, whose sister was walking ahead of him when the stampede occurred.

　　"The crowd started pushing and I managed to move aside. I don't know if my sister escaped or if she was trapped inside," he said.

　　Meanwhile, it has now emerged that a powerful type of explosive, regarded as a favorite of Islamic guerrillas in Kashmir, was used in Mumbai's twin bombings, police said yesterday - bolstering government claims that a hardline Muslim militant group carried out the city's worst attack in a decade.

　　At least 51 people were killed and 156 wounded in Monday's explosions outside the Gateway of India, a historical landmark, and Zaveri Bazaar, a gold and diamond market.

　　Police Commissioner Ranjit Sharma said that preliminary investigations indicated the explosive, RDX, was used in both the blasts. RDX was used in previous blasts in Mumbai in 1993.