AP PHOTOS: Families of stampede victims in India ponder future without loved ones

The orange rising from flames shone a light on the twilight scene. Savitri Devi, 50, had just been cremated.

Devi was among more than 120 people who died in a stampede last week at a religious festival in northern India, as the faithful surged toward the preacher and chaos ensued among the attendees.

The event had been permitted to accommodate only 80,000 people. It’s not clear how many made it inside the giant tent set up in a muddy field in a village in Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh state but they were reported to be about three times the permitted number.

“It was a matter of fate. What does Baba have to do with it?” Vir Pal Singh said about his wife Devi’s passing. Singh was a volunteer at the religious gathering. The couple had been a follower of the Hindu guru, known locally as Bhole Baba, for more than 10 years.

It was not clear what sparked the stampede. The state’s chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, told reporters that a crowd rushed toward the preacher to touch him as...