At least 30 killed in stampede at massive Maha Kumbh festival in northern India
Doctor at local hospital says facility has seen 17 fatalities from festival
At least 30 people were killed and many more were injured in a stampede at the world's largest religious gathering early on Wednesday, police said, as millions of pilgrims rushed to dip in sacred waters during the Maha Kumbh festival in northern India.
Police officer Vaibhav Krishna in Prayagraj city said another 60 injured were rushed to hospitals.
Wednesday was a sacred day in the six-week Hindu festival, and authorities expected a record 100 million devotees to engage in a ritual bath at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers. Hindus believe that a dip at the holy site can cleanse them of past sins and end the process of reincarnation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the incident "extremely sad" and extended his condolences without specifying how many had died.
"My deepest condolences to the devotees who have lost their loved ones. Along with this, I wish for the speedy recovery of all the injured," Modi said in a post on social platform X.
The stampede occurred after pilgrims tried to jump barricades erected for the movement of religious saints, Uttar Pradesh state's top elected official, Yogi Adityanath, said in a televised statement.
He made no mention of any deaths even eight hours after the crush of pilgrims at the site.
Distressed families lined up outside a makeshift hospital inquiring about their missing relatives, while rescuers helped the injured and police tried to manage the crowds.
People's belongings like clothes, blankets and backpacks were strewn around the scene of the stampede. It was not immediately clear what triggered the panic or how many people had been hurt.
A doctor who works at a hospital in Prayagraj city told the Associated Press that his facility alone had seen 17 fatalities and more than 30 injured people. The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to speak with the media.
Massive religious gathering
The Maha Kumbh festival, which is held every 12 years, started on Jan. 13 and is the world's largest religious gathering. About 30 million people had taken the holy bath by 8 a.m. on Wednesday, according to Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Authorities have built a sprawling tent city on the riverbanks to accommodate visitors. It has 3,000 kitchens and 150,000 toilets, plus roads, electricity and water, communication towers and 11 hospitals.
About 50,000 security personnel are stationed in the city to maintain law and order and manage crowds. Authorities also installed more than 2,500 cameras, some powered by AI, to send crowd movement and density information to four central control rooms, where officials can quickly deploy personnel to avoid stampedes.
In 2013, at least 40 pilgrims who were taking part in the festival were killed in a stampede at a train station in Prayagraj.
Deadly stampedes are relatively common around Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small areas with shoddy infrastructure and few safety measures. In July at least 116 people died, most of them women and children, when thousands at a religious gathering in northern India stampeded at a tent in Hathras town.
