Local police say nearly 40 people have died. (Reuters: Adnan Abidi)
In short:
At least 30 people have died in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela gathering in northern India, state authorities have confirmed.
The religious event is the world's largest gathering of humanity with over 200 million people in attendance in the first two weeks.
Witnesses have described seeing elderly women fall and watched people walk over them in the stampede.
Bodies, clothes and bags lay scattered on the ground after a deadly stampede at the world's largest gathering of humanity, the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India.
India police and state authorities have confirmed there are at least 30 dead and 90 injured in the stampede
Earlier, three police sources told Reuters that nearly 40 bodies were brought to a hospital morgue near the site of the stampede.
"More bodies are coming in. We have nearly 40 bodies here. We are transferring them out as well and handing over to families one by one," one of the sources said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to "devotees who have lost their loved ones" and said local officials were helping victims "in every possible way", without specifying the number of dead.
Witnesses described a mass of people rushing to take a pre-dawn dip at the confluence of the three sacred rivers — the Ganga, the Yamuna, and the ancient mythical river Saraswati, at Prayagraj.
The stampede happened as a large group of people tried to go for a pre-dawn swim. (Reuters: Adnan Abidi)
"We saw people falling, lying one above another and crushing others to find a safe place," said Shweta Tripathi, a resident of Sant Kabir Nagar in Uttar Pradesh.
"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."
She saw a child and his relative crying next to bodies of their loved ones.
"I don't think I am coming ever again," she said.
The religious event is the largest mass gathering of humans on the planet. (Reuters: Adnan Abidi)
The Maha Kumbh Mela is the world's largest congregation of humanity, attracting some 400 million people over its six weeks.Â
Nearly 200 million people had attended the 2025 festival since it started two weeks ago.
Visuals showed distressed attendees searching for their belongings amid piles of bags, clothes and water bottles thrown around.Â
Abhishek Kumar, who said he also attended the Mela with a few of his relatives, saw people falling because of the crowd that surged to take a dip.
"Some people were returning after taking a dip and others were rushing towards the river. There was absolutely no co-ordination between the two crowds," he told ABP news channel.
Witnessess said they saw elderly women fall over and get trampled on. (Reuters: Adnan Abidi)
"Some of the women in our group were old and they tripped and fell. People walked over them in their hurry to get out."
Kumar said it took him and others more than an hour to get to the makeshift hospital near the site of the festival because of the surging crowds.
"From what we could tell, the women we brought here were not breathing, but we don't know for sure," he added.
"We just picked them up on our shoulders and ran."
Reuters
