It was the second such fatal stampede in as many months in Madras, capital of southern India's Tamil Nadu state, and the government ordered an independent inquiry into its cause.

Each person in the narrow street leading to a school where the relief center was set up was expecting to collect coupons for provisions and $45 cash aid. When the school gates opened to let in a vehicle, the crowd mistakenly assumed the center had opened and surged forward.

At least 430 people in Tamil Nadu died and half a million were left homeless by storms that have pounded the state since late October.

The Japan Times Weekly: Dec. 24, 2005
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