http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/stampede-victim-bucks-up-in-morgue/2008/08/06/1217702143799.htmlNEW DELHI: An Indian pilgrim knocked unconscious in a stampede that killed 150 people, woke up in a morgue as doctors prepared to perform a post-mortem examination on him.
Mange Ram, 19, lost consciousness in the stampede, triggered by rumours of a landslide. Thousands climbing the steep mountain path panicked.
Mr Ram told The Times Of India that he woke in a hospital morgue after Sunday's tragedy at the Naina Devi shrine, in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.
"When I woke up, I was in the middle of a row of bodies waiting for post mortem," he said.
"My throat was parched and I asked for water. Towering over me, the doctors and nursing staff at Anandpur Sahib Civil hospital looked dazed.
"They must have been surprised to see a dead man come alive like that."
Sat Pal Aggarwal, a doctor on the pilgrimage, said few checks were carried out to see if victims were alive.
"People were dumped quite haphazardly into trucks without following any procedure or checking if they were alive," he said.
Despite the huge loss of life, the pilgrimage continued hours after the corpses had been cleared.
The temple, devoted to the goddess Naina Devi, sits on a hilltop in the Himalayas.
It has been the site of previous deadly accidents.
Crowd control is poor in India and stampedes are common.
Three years ago, 257 Hindu devotees, mainly women and children, were crushed to death in a stampede at a religious pilgrimage in western India.
