Dozens feared dead in India at Kumbh Mela religious festival
Dozens feared dead in India at Kumbh Mela religious festival
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Witnesses describe surging crowds that crushed people on the banks of the Ganges as they arrived to take a dip at holy site. Dozens of people are feared to have died in multiple crowd crushes at India’s Kumbh Mela festival, local officials at the scene have said, as vast crowds of people went to bathe at one of the holiest sites of the Hindu gathering.
![[Security personnel try to control the pilgrims near the site of a crowd crush at the Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/8a599ea95c9b9b6e51905876fb14f914319cc138/0_0_6000_4000/master/6000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
People were crushed at about 4am on Wednesday in three separate areas at the sacred confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers. It appears people surged forward, into groups of people who were sitting or lying on the ground on the banks of the rivers.
![[Hindu devotees at the site of a crowd crush]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/34218de8f7ec87e2cd60b9b3f143655b1e37cfed/0_0_3014_2009/master/3014.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
More than 400 million people, the biggest crowd in its history, were expected to attend this year’s festivities, to be held over 45 days in Prayagraj in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Local officials counting casualties into hospital tents said at least 38 were feared dead but other officials and doctors have given death tolls ranging from 15 to 50. The government has not yet given official figures on the scale of the crush.
One paramilitary officer at the scene said: “There were multiple stampedes. There were at least 200 injured and I’d say around 50 dead. I saw them with my own eyes.”. One doctor in Prayagraj told AFP they knew at least 15 people were so far known to have been killed, but other local officials have said the death toll was higher.
