ISLAMABAD, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least 36 people sustained severe injuries in a stampede at a shrine in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province on Monday, local media reported.

According to local Urdu TV channel Abb Takk, tens of thousands of devotees from across the country gathered in the shrine for a religious celebration in Pakpattan, a district in Punjab province, when the stampede took place.

The stampede was caused when police baton-charged those devotees who tried to cross the protective gate of the shrine, said the report.

All the injured have been shifted to a nearby hospital, where 16 of them are said to be in critical condition.

Local authorities said that a case has been registered into the incident and investigations are underway.