At least 30 people have died following a stampede at the world’s largest religious gathering in India, authorities said.
The tragedy unfolded early on Tuesday, Jan. 28, as thousands of Hindu pilgrims rushed to bathe in holy water while at the Maha Kumbh Mela, a festival in the Indian city of Prayagrajm, according to the Associated Press and The New York Times.
At least 60 others were injured and taken to nearby hospitals, police officer Vaibhav Krishna told the AP.
The incident occurred when pilgrims jumped barricades erected for a procession of holy men, Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh state’s top elected official, said in a televised statement, according to the report.
Witnesses told Reuters that routes to the water were closed — which brought the crowd to a standstill — while others began “pushing, pulling and climbing” over them.
“Suddenly there was pushing in the crowd, and we got trapped. A lot of us fell down and the crowd went uncontrolled,” a pilgrim named Sarojini said, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. the AP reported. “There was no chance for escape, there was pushing from all sides.”
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A record 100 million devotees were expected to engage in the ritual bath at the location, which is the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers, the AP noted.
News of the casualties was not reported by the government for more than 12 hours after the incident, according to The New York Times.
Adityanath said that a judicial inquiry would be launched surrounding the incident, and that the state government would give victims’ families about $29,000 each, the paper reported.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences on X.
“The accident in Maha Kumbh is extremely sad,” he said in the translated post. “My deepest condolences to the devotees who have lost their loved ones in this.”
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