India crowd crush: dozens feared dead at Kumbh Mela religious festival – latest updates
India crowd crush: dozens feared dead at Kumbh Mela religious festival – latest updates
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The Times of India reports that ambulances have rushed to the scene in Prayagraj, home to the sacred confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers. “Some people have got injured and have been hospitalised after a barrier broke at the Sangam [confluence]. We are yet to have the exact count of those injured,” one official was quoted by the paper as saying.
“We came in a batch of 60 people in two buses, we were nine people in the group. Suddenly there was pushing in the crowd, and we got trapped. A lot of us fell down and the crowd went uncontrolled,” one woman told PTI Videos from outside the hospital where the injured were taken.
“There was no chance for escape, there was pushing from all sides. Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of deadly crowd crushes at India’s Kumbh Mela festival. At least 38 people and as many as 100 are feared to have died in crushes in the early hours of Wednesday, local officials have said, as people went to bathe in a river as part of a Hindu ritual.
People were crushed at about 4am on Wednesday as people surged forward in three separate areas at the confluence of the rivers in the city of Prayagraj which is the holiest place to bathe. The scale of the tragedy is still unclear but we will bring you the latest news as we have it.
