On Wednesday (January 24), in the early hours of the morning, a stampede occurred during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India, resulting in the deaths of dozens of people. It was one of the most important days in the Hindu calendar, as millions of devotees gathered to bathe in the sacred river.
Local officials reported that the incident occurred as a large number of devotees were heading towards the riverbank when a fence suddenly collapsed, causing the crowd to lose control. Local hospitals confirmed receiving 35 bodies and around 20 others were injured, with the death toll expected to rise. Indian authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of casualties.
According to reports from Reuters and CNN, the incident took place around 1:30 am when the crowd was surging, leading to some people panicking and running, resulting in more people falling and causing extreme chaos. Some families were separated in the confusion, and there are still missing persons to be accounted for.
“Suddenly, the crowd surged, and we were trapped,” a woman interviewed outside the hospital said. “People started pushing frantically, and we fell to the ground.”
Reuters photos showed bodies scattered near the riverbank, ambulances shuttling through the crowd to transport the injured, and police assisting in evacuating people.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed sorrow over the tragedy that “claimed the lives of some devout believers,” offering condolences to the affected families and praying for the speedy recovery of the injured. He emphasized that close contact was maintained with the government of Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stated that some devotees were “seriously injured,” and the authorities were working full force to handle the accident. He urged devotees to avoid rushing to the incident site and to bathe in other sections of the river, but large numbers of devotees still headed to the holy site.
Wednesday marked the Mauni Amavasya, the “Silent New Moon Day” of the Maha Kumbh festival, where devotees go to the Triveni Sangam site – the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati rivers – to bathe and cleanse their sins.
On that day, about 100 million Hindu devotees arrived in Prayagraj, with 50 million of them having completed their baths on the previous day.
Large-scale religious events in India often witness stampede incidents, highlighting inadequate crowd control measures. During the 2013 Kumbh Mela, a stampede occurred at the Allahabad railway station, resulting in at least 36 deaths.
In preparation for this year’s Kumbh Mela, officials had announced enhanced security measures, including deploying over 1,000 police officers, setting up security checkpoints, and installing 2,700 AI surveillance cameras. Additionally, for the first time, the government employed unmanned aerial drones capable of diving up to 100 meters underwater for monitoring.
As of January 27, Uttar Pradesh government data showed that over 197 million people had participated in the bathing activities of this year’s Kumbh Mela.