Relatives gather at hospital mortuary as festival continues
There are scenes of distress as relatives gather outside a hospital mortuary in Prayagraj, but elsewhere the festival continues, with pilgrims bathing on the banks of the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.
Key events
Here is a map showing what we know of the location of the crush that is believed to have killed at least ten people at the Kumbh Mela festival.
Agence France-Presse has spoken to witnesses to the crushing among the crowds at the Kumbh Mela festival.
University student Ruchi Bharti told the agency “If you see advertisements it seems like the government is providing world class facilities. But this stampede proved that was all a lie.”
Opposition politicians in India have been critical of the organisation of the festival, with Rahul Gandhi decrying “mismanagement” by the administration as being responsible for the deaths.
Another witness, Renu Devi, told AFP “The entire crowd fell on top of me, trampling me as it moved forward. When the crowd surged, elderly people and women were crushed, and no one came forward to help.”
The death toll remains unclear, with officials still yet to make any formal announcement. One doctor told AFP anonymously that “at least 15 people” had died, with local media putting the figure higher at 20, and some sources suggesting as many as 40 people may have died.
Reuters, citing three police sources, reports that “nearly 40 bodies were brought to a hospital morgue near the site of a stampede.”
More details soon …
The death and injury toll still remains unclear, although India’s prime minister Narendra Modi has acknowledged there have been some fatalities.
Associated Press reports the agency has, it says, “made repeated attempts to confirm the death toll and total number of injured, contacting multiple senior officials, but all said they were not authorised to release figures.”
According to the website of Hindi-language newspaper Dainik Bhaskar, one of its reporters counted 20 bodies at a medical centre. The paper also published an unverified image which appears to show at least 11 bodies lying on a local hospital floor.
Relatives gather at hospital mortuary as festival continues
There are scenes of distress as relatives gather outside a hospital mortuary in Prayagraj, but elsewhere the festival continues, with pilgrims bathing on the banks of the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.
Reuters reports that there is still no official figure on the number of people killed or injured after the deadly crush at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India, on one of the holiest days for Hindus.
Shweta Tripathi, a resident of Sant Kabir Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, told the news agency:
We saw people falling, lying one above another and crushing others to find a safe place. As we went ahead, we saw clothes, bodies of people, their bags, clothes and other belongings littered around. It all happened so fast that I couldn’t process it and started crying. Luckily none from my group was hurt and we are all safe. I don’t think I am coming ever again.
The witness reported seeing a child and his relative crying next to bodies of their loved ones.
The PTI news agency in India has spoken to people in the crowd who experienced crushing.
A woman from Karnataka told the news agency “We came in a batch of 60 people in two buses, we were nine people in the group. Suddenly there was pushing in the crowd, and we got trapped. A lot of us fell down and the crowd went uncontrolled. There was no chance for escape, there was pushing from all sides.”
Another woman, whose child was injured, told reporters that “There was nowhere to go. Some people who pushed us were laughing.”
Reporting for the BBC from Prayagraj, Vikas Pandey notes that “tens of thousands of people are still arriving to take a dip at the confluence” despite the earlier crush, which has killed at least ten people according to local reports.
Pandey added that they could see “stricter security measures are in place now.”
India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, has also posted a message to social media about the crush, describing the accident as “extremely painful”.
He added “My deepest condolences to the bereaved families of those who have lost their loved ones in this accident. Along with this, I wish for the speedy recovery of all the injured.”
Singh said that local authorities were “providing all possible help to the victims”.
What we know so far …
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Dozens of people are feared to have died in crowd crushes at India’s Kumbh Mela festival, local officials at the scene have said, as vast crowds of people went to bathe at one of the holiest sites of the Hindu gathering
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Citing local reports, Associated Press put the death toll at at least ten people. Other local sources put the figure higher. Authorities are expecting 400 million people to attend over the six weeks of the festival
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Shoes and clothes could be seen strewn all over the ground where the crowd crushes happened by the river bank, amid scenes of desperation at nearby makeshift tent hospitals where the injured and dead were initially brought
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In a message, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi offered his “deepest condolences to the devotees who have lost their loved ones” without acknowledging an exact death toll
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Uttar Pradesh state’s top elected official, Yogi Adityanath, said in a televised statement that “The situation is now under control, but there is a massive crowd of pilgrims”
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Wednesday was a sacred day during the six-week festival, and authorities were expecting a record 100 million devotees to engage in a ritual bath at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers
Some more pictures from Kumbh Mela:
The Kumbh Mela, as seen from space:
Donald Pettit, a NASA astronaut, has posted these photos of the world’s largest religious gathering, as seen from space, on his X account.
Prime minister Narendra Modi offers his condolences to Kumbh Mela victims
Indian authorities are yet to release any official death toll of what is believed to be more than one deadly crowd crush in the early hours of Wednesday morning at the world’s largest religious gathering.
But in a statement posted on X, India’s prime minister Modi described the incident as “extremely sad”, and offered his condolences to those who had lost loved ones.
“My deepest condolences to the devotees who have lost their loved ones in this. Along with this, I wish for the speedy recovery of all the injured,” he said, “The local administration is engaged in helping the victims in every possible way. In this regard, I have spoken to chief minister Yogi ji and I am constantly in touch with the state government.”
A look at the scale of this year’s Kumbh Mela:
At least 400 million people — more than the population of the United States — are expected in Prayagraj over the next 45 days, according to officials. That is around 200 times the 2 million pilgrims that arrived in the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage last year.
The festival is a big test for Indian authorities to showcase the Hindu religion, tourism and crowd management, writes Associated Press.
A vast ground along the banks of the rivers has been converted into a sprawling tent city equipped with more 3,000 kitchens and 150,000 restrooms. Divided into 25 sections and spreading over 40 square kilometers (15 square miles), the tent city also has housing, roads, electricity and water, communication towers and 11 hospitals. Murals depicting stories from Hindu scriptures are painted on the walls.
Indian Railways is operating more than 90 special trains on nearly 3,300 trips during the festival to transport devotees, beside regular trains.
About 50,000 security personnel – a 50% increase from 2019 – are also stationed in the city to maintain law and order and manage crowds. More than 2,500 cameras, some powered by AI, will send crowd movement and density information to four central control rooms, where officials can quickly deploy personnel to avoid crushes.
Dozens feared dead in crushes at India’s Kumbh Mela religious festival
If you are just tuning into this story, here is a quick recap of what you need to know.
Dozens of people are feared to have died in crowd crushes at India’s Kumbh Mela festival, local officials at the scene have said, as vast crowds of people went to bathe at one of the holiest sites of the Hindu gathering.
People were crushed in the early hours of Wednesday as tens of millions of people flocked to immerse themselves in the sacred confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, on one of the most auspicious days of the Hindu festival.
The Kumbh Mela, located in northern India, is the world’s largest religious gathering.
According to accounts by devotees, one of the worst crushes occurred after large numbers went down to the river to bathe, while others were sleeping on the floor around the congested riverbank.
As the crowd surged in multiple directions, people began to push their way out and many began to fall to the floor, pushing over barriers and trampling each other. Another crowd crush was reported to have taken place around one of the entrances to the festival.
In the aftermath, multiple bodies were seen lying on the floor around the banks of the river. By mid morning on Wednesday there was still no official confirmation from the police or Uttar Pradesh government on the official fatalities.
The full story by our correspondent, Hannah Ellis Petersen, is here.