Four pilgrims were injured on Saturday in a minor stampede while waiting to pay obeisance to Lord Venkateswara at the famous hill shrine in Tirumala near here which witnessed a heavy rush of over one lakh devotees.
The pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh, including two teenaged girls, who were standing at a bottle neck point in a special queue, suffered suffocation and fell down after devotees from behind surged forward suddenly, temple sources said.
They were immediately rushed to a hospital run by the temple administration. After medical aid, the pilgrims were discharged and provided a special entry darshan of the Lord, the sources told agencies.
The temple, thronged by pilgrims from across the country, has been witnessing a heavy rush of devotees since the last two days.
The waiting time for darshan for pilgrims in the free queue is around 20 hours and for the special queue ten hours, they said.
The incident took place in the special queue line meant for pilgrims who trek the 10 km long stairway from the foot of the hills to the shrine.