Narayanganj: At least 10 Hindu pilgrims were killed and dozens more were injured in a stampede at Langalbandh in Narayanganj, outside the capital city on Friday.

The stampede occurred on the banks of the Brahmaputra river, where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had converged for ‘Mahastami Punya Snan’, ritual bathing during an annual Hindu festival.

Police inspector Nasir Ahmed said seven women and three men had been confirmed dead, reports AFP.

The deceased are Bhanumoti of Noakhali, Nitya Gopal Das, Nitai Das and Malti Das of Manikganj, Kanan Saha and Ranjit Kumar of Comilla, Bhabapati of Dhanmondi, Rakhi Saha of Dhaka’s Lalbagh, Nokul Kunda of Gopalganj, and Khokon Saha of Madaripur.

‘We are investigating what triggered the stampede, but it seems that the tragedy was due to an unusually high number of pilgrims,’ Ahmed told AFP.

‘The stampede involved a huge number of people as thousands of shoes could still be seen on the road an hour after it happened,’ he added.

Witnesses said at least 50 people were injured in the stampede at the annual Astami Snan festival, around 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of Dhaka.

The annual rituals normally attract around one million pilgrims from Bangladesh and abroad to the river, which Hindus consider holy.

But district administrator Anisur Rahman said the number was higher this year because the festival fell during public holidays to mark Bangladesh's national day.

According to Hindu mythology, Parshuram, an incarnation of lord Vinshnu killed his mother Renuka Devi by an axe at the order of his father Jamadagni. The axe clung on his hand as a mark of sin. At the order of the divinity, Parshuram bathed in the river Brahmaputra on the last month of lunar year as the waterfall of the Himalayan peak joined the river Brahmaputra. The axe dropped from his hand and Parshuram was freed from sin.

In Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Hindus account for around 10% of the country’s 160 million people.