More than 300 Hindu pilgrims were trampled or burned to death and 200 others were injured today when a fire caused a stampede at a religious festival in western India, police said.

Most of the dead were reported to be women and children who were jammed into a hill-top temple and narrow access road near the town of Wai in the Satara district of Maharashtra state.

"Over 300 were killed and four buses full of injured people have been sent to various local hospitals in the district of Satara," said V.N. Deshmukh, a regional police chief. He warned the death and injury toll was expected to go up as the bodies of the dead and injured arrived at hospitals in Satara district, 180 miles south of Bombay.

Up to 400,000 people had gathered at the temple site for the sighting of the full moon last night.

The cause of the stampede, India's deadliest in years despite the huge crowds that gather at religious festivals, was not entirely clear. Mr Deshmukh said the crush was triggered by a clash between pilgrims and a few shopkeepers that was followed by a gas cylinder blast which caused more panic.

"The situation was aggravated by the fact there were thousands of pilgrims coming out of the temple and thousands trying to get into the temple," he said.

Another witness said the stampede, which started around midday, appeared to have been caused by an overhead electric cable that was believed to have fallen on some pilgrims.

"Apparently an overhead electric cable hit some people and some people got caught in it. That created panic and people started running, some trampling on others," said Sanjay Mistry, a shopkeeper who was one of the pilgrims. "There was a lot of chaos and cries of ’many people are dead’.

"People got suffocated in the crush," Mr Mistry said."Bodies are still lying there."

The tragedy occurred during the annual pilgrimage to the Mandhradevi temple near the town of Wai in Satara district. The hillside temple is dedicated to the Hindu goddess Mandhradevi.

Police said chaos followed the stampede. "Many started rioting and burning and looting makeshift shops along the route up to the temple," one policeman said in the town.

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