A stampede on Wednesday left dozens of people dead at the world’s largest religious gathering, casting a shadow over the Kumbh Mela festival that attracts millions of Hindu devotees in India.
The mayhem occurred as a large mass of pilgrims rushed to dip in sacred waters at the confluence of rivers in northern India’s Prayagraj on the most auspicious day of the festival, which is celebrated as a symbol of Hindu nationalist pride.
The ritualistic bath is believed to cleanse devotees of their sins.
According to Indian authorities, several devotees attempted to force their way past one of the thousands of police barricades set up to control the vast crowds.
At least 30 people have lost their lives in the stampede, the top police officer for the festival, Vaibhav Krishna, told reporters.
“Twenty-five people have been identified, and the identification of the remaining five is being done,” Krishna said.
According to the police officer, the area around the bathing place was barricaded, but the influx of people broke through them, triggering the stampede.
“A few barricades collapsed due to the overwhelming crowd in the area. People were lying down, waiting for an auspicious occasion before the holy dip when the crowd surged over them,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences “to the devotees who have lost their loved ones” and confirmed multiple deaths in the stampede.
“I am deeply saddened by the loss of some pious souls in the tragedy that occurred at the Maha Kumbh. However, I take great satisfaction in the way the holy bathing process resumed, thanks to the patience and cooperation of the devotees,” Modi said at an election rally in New Delhi.
Chaotic Scenes
Survivors recounted harrowing moments of panic to local media. “Some people were laughing while we begged them to be careful with the children,” a woman told the Press Trust of India (PTI) in a video statement.
Witnesses described a crush of bodies with no space to move. “There were many women and children waiting to bathe when a huge crowd arrived, and people started trampling each other,” a pilgrim told ABP News.
“The police didn’t intervene… Mothers, sisters, and children have died. What did they come for, and what are they leaving with?”
More than 50 million people attended Kumbh Mela on Wednesday, Mauni Amavasya day, considered the most auspicious for immersion in the holy waters.
Authorities estimate that by the festival’s end on Feb. 26, a record 450 million visitors will have participated, making it the largest human gathering on Earth.
A Matter of Pride
Despite the scale of the disaster, the Indian government has remained largely silent. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath even urged devotees to “ignore rumors” about fatalities in the immediate aftermath.
Both Modi and Adityanath had promised flawless organization for the festival, which occurs every 12 years based on astronomical calculations.
With nearly $1 billion invested in building a temporary city for pilgrims, authorities had sought to prevent a repeat of past tragedies, such as the 2013 stampede at Prayagraj’s train station that killed 36 people.
Preparations included the deployment of tens of thousands of police and paramilitary personnel, 2,700 AI-equipped security cameras to monitor crowd movement, and thousands of barricades to control access to the riverbanks.
Yet, despite these measures, another deadly stampede—the fourth at Kumbh Mela since India’s independence in 1947—was not averted. EFE
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