India: Several dead after stampede at Kumbh Mela
By editor - 29.01 2025
At least seven people have died and dozens of others have been injured in a stampede at the world’s largest religious festival in India, a gathering where millions take part in rituals and offer prayers.
Dozens of people have been injured in a stampede at India's Maha Kumbh festival as tens of thousands of people turned out for the religious gathering to offer their prayers by the riverbanks of the northern city of Prayagraj, authorities said on Wednesday.
"Some people have got injured and have been hospitalized after a barrier broke at the Sangam. We are yet to have the exact count of those injured," news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted an official on duty, Akanksha Rana, as saying.
There have been different death figures, with AFP news agency reporting that at least 15 people have died after being crushed by a crowd surge and Reuters reporting that more than seven have been killed.
Videos and photographs show distraught family members waiting outside makeshift hospitals, and clothes, bags, and jackets strewn across the ground at the site of the chaotic crush.
Security personnel carry an injured pilgrim at the site of a stampede amid the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj
Officials say the crush occured after a barrier broke at the site of the ongoing festival
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have both been briefed on the situation as well, PTI news agency reported.
"All of you should follow the instructions of the administration and cooperate in making arrangements. People are bathing peacefully at all ghats (river banks) of Sangam (the confluence of the rivers)," Adityanath wrote on X.
Millions of pilgrims head to site to wash away their sins
The Kumbh Mela is the biggest gathering of humanity in the world — where families, devotees and elderly pilgrims gather at the meeting point of rivers Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, once every 12 years.
Millions of people bathe in the riverwaters because they believe the ritual washes away their sins and frees them from the cycle of rebirth.
This year's festival — which has the prefix 'maha' meaning 'great' — is thought to be one of particular significance with astrologers saying that such an alignment of stars hasn't occurred in 144 years.
Organizers expect over 400 million people, more than the population of the US, to descend on Prayagraj, in Uttar Pradesh, between January 13 and February 26.
While this year's festival is celebrated over a span of 45 days, Wednesday marks the occasion of 'Mauni Amavasya' which is the last new moon night before the festival of Mahashivratri and the most auspicious bathing day.
Authorities expected Wednesday to be the most crowded day of the festival because worshippers believe that bathing on the day offers a unique opportunity to be blessed by ancestors.
The Uttar Pradesh state government expected around 100 million devotees to visit the site, officials had said in a press briefing earlier in January.
Videos on social media showed a sea of people gathered in the early hours of Wednesday, waiting for their turn to bathe in river waters.
Meanwhile, local media outlets reported that bathing in the waters was temporarily suspended because of the incident.