A stampede at the world’s largest religious gathering in India killed at least 15 people with many more injured, a doctor at the Kumbh Mela festival told Wednesday.
Deadly crowd crushes are a notorious feature of Indian religious festivals and the Kumbh Mela, with its unfathomable throngs of devotees, already had a grim track record before the latest incident in the early hours of the morning.
The six-week festival is the single biggest milestone on the Hindu religious calendar, and millions of people had been expected to participate in a sacred day of ritual bathing on Wednesday.
“At least 15 people have died for now. Others are being treated,” said the doctor at the festival site in Prayagraj, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to talk to media.
Rescue teams were seen working with pilgrims to carry victims away from the site of the accident over ground strewn with clothes, shoes and other discarded belongings.
Police officers moved through the area carrying stretchers bearing the bodies of victims draped with thick blankets.
Dozens of relatives were anxiously waiting for news outside a large tent serving as a purpose-built hospital for the festival around one kilometre (half a mile) from the accident.
Wednesday marks one of the holiest days in the festival, when saffron-clad holy men were due to lead millions into a procession of sin-cleansing ritual bathing at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.
But instead officials were strolling the festival site with loudhailers urging pilgrims to keep away from the waterways.
“We humbily request all devotees do not come to the main bathing spot,” said one festival staffer, his voice crackling through his megaphone.
“Please cooperate with security personnel.”
Numerous pilgrims decided to make an early exit from the festival.
