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.
Reports about people killed in crowd surge
There have been different death figures, with AFP news agency reporting that at least 15 people were dead after being crushed by a crowd surge and Reuters reporting that more than seven were killed.
Videos and photographs show distraught family members waiting outside makeshift hospitals, and clothes and bags and jackets strewn across the ground at the site of the chaotic crush.
Officials said an initial stampede which occurred around 1 a.m. local time (1930 GMT) was "not serious."
However, devotees trying to escape it were caught in another stampede at an exit. They then returned towards the pontoon bridges looking for another way out only to find it had been closed by authorities.
Chief minister urges cooperation
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the details and developments of the situation with state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, PTI reported.
Adityanath urged people to take a dip at the nearest river bank rather than trying to reach the festival site.
"All of you should follow the instructions of the administration and cooperate in making arrangements. People are bathing peacefully at all the ghats (river banks) of Sangam (the confluence of the rivers)," he said on messaging platform X.
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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 a prefix 'maha' meaning 'great' — is thought to be one of particular signifcance with astrologers saying that such an alignment of stars hasn't occured 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.
Auspicious day of festival sees heavy influx of devotees
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.
Authorities expected Wednesday to be the most crowded day of the festival as devotees believe a dip in the holy rivers on this 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 riverwaters.
Meanwhile, local media outlets reported that bathing in the waters was temporarily suspended because of the incident.
