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Several people were feared dead and many more injured in a stampede early Wednesday as tens of thousands of Hindus rushed to take a holy bath in the river at the massive Maha Kumbh festival in northern India’s Prayagraj city, local media reported.
Hindus rushed to take holy bath in river, during festival held every 12 yearsThe Associated Press
· Posted: Jan 28, 2025 9:16 PM EST | Last Updated: 37 minutes ago
Security personnel try to control the pilgrims near the site of a stampede at the Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj, India, on Wednesday. (Niharika Kulkarni/AFP/Getty Images)Several people were feared dead and many more injured in a stampede early Wednesday as tens of thousands of Hindus rushed to take a holy bath in the river at the massive Maha Kumbh festival in northern India’s Prayagraj city, local media reported.
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.
Several pilgrims were injured, some seriously, in the stampede that occurred between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. local time, as they 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. Some local news websites said 10 people had died.
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.
A policeman helps an injured man at the festival. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the incident “extremely sad” and extended his condolences without specifying how many had died. (Adnan Abidi/Reuters)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.
“The situation is now under control, but there is a massive crowd of pilgrims,” Adityanath said, adding that 90 million to 100 million pilgrims had congregated there.
Wednesday was a sacred day during the six-week festival, and authorities were expecting many millions of devotees to engage in a ritual bath at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers. The ritualistic bathing’s main draw are thousands of ash-smeared Hindu ascetics who arrive in massive processions toward the confluence to take a holy dip in the waters.
Massive religious gatheringYogi Adityanath, chief minister of the Uttar Pradesh state, urged people to not head toward the confluence and instead take baths at other riverbanks. Adityanath did not make any reference to the stampede but warned people not to “pay attention to any rumours.”
The Maha Kumbh festival, held every 12 years, started on Jan. 13 and is the world’s largest religious gathering. Authorities expect more than 400 million people to throng the pilgrimage site in total over the next six weeks.
A man jumps over a fence at the Maha Kumbh festival in northern India’s Prayagraj city. (Elke Scholiers/Getty Images)
People react in the aftermath of the stampede. (Adnan Abidi/Reuters)
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.
An ambulance is seen trying to make its way through the middle of the crowd in Prayagraj. (Deepak Sharma/The Associated Press)
