Photos: Dozens Killed In India Festival Stampede

At least 32 people have been killed and 15 others injured in a stampede during an important Hindu festival in India.Indian officials said the accident occurred on Friday near a public park in the city of Patna in the eastern Bihar state and that the fatalities were mostly women and children.

Dussehra - a festival during which effigies of the demon king Ravana are burnt to mark the victory of good over evil - draws huge crowds at the Gandhi Maidan in Patna, the administrative capital of Bihar. Continue below to see photos from the celebration and then the stampede after the cut.

"We have information that 32 people including women and children died due to a stampede," Police told AFP news agency. In addition to the dead, at least 15 people were taken to hospital. 

Hindu devotees watch an effigy of the Hindu demon king Ravana, stuffed with fire-crackers, burn

 The effigies are filled with firecrackers which contain phosphorous - a chemical which they believe purifies the atmosphere to combat illnesses onset by the drop in temperate at the time of year

The festival is celebrated on the tenth day of the month of Ashwin in the Hindu lunisolar calendar, with the previous nine days known as Maha Navratri