Festival crush in Indian city of Kolkata kills at least 17, local media say

Oct 17 (Reuters) A crush at a religious festival in the eastern Indian ​city of Kolkata killed at ‌least 17 people and injured dozens, local media reported on Saturday. Durga Puja, a multi-day annual Hindu ‌festival ​in the state ⁠of West Bengal, ⁠draws huge crowds to temporary structures known as pandals that house idols of the ​goddess Durga. The incident occurred at the exit gate in ⁠Kolkata s Girish Park ⁠area after heavy rain ​led to overcrowding as large ​numbers of devotees attempted to ‌leave the venue,  local TV said. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi s office, in a post ⁠on social media platform X, announced a compensation payment of 200,000 ⁠rupees ($2,106.15) ‌for the next of ⁠kin of those ​who ‌died and 50,000 rupees ​each for ⁠the injured. ($1 = 94.9600 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Angela Christy and Ananya Palyekar in Bengaluru. Editing by Mark Potter and ​Sanjeev Miglani)