At least 30 people were killed and many more injured on Wednesday in an early-morning stampede at the world’s largest religious gathering in India.
At Indian religious holidays, including the Kumbh Mela, which draws tens of millions of devotees to Prayagraj’s northern city every year, deadly crowd incidents occur frequently.
People sleeping and lying on the ground near rivers as pilgrims rushed to take part in a holy day of ritual bathing reported to AFP that they were trampled by a swarm of devotees approaching them in the dark.
“I was sitting near a barricade, and during the pushing and shoving, the entire crowd fell on top of me, trampling me as it moved forward”, Pilgrim Renu Devi, 48, told AFP.
“When the crowd surged, elderly people and women were crushed, and no one came forward to help”.
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Through a mass of discarded clothing, shoes, and other items, rescue teams carried victims from the accident site.
Police were seen carrying bodies carried by thick, blanket-doped stretchers.
A doctor at a hospital treating patients at the scene of their deaths and injuries, who were not authorized to speak to the media, told AFP that “at least 15 people” were killed and dozens more were injured.
Authorities have yet to officially confirm the number of dead in the stampede, which took place around 1: 00 am (1930 GMT Tuesday).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the accident was “extremely sad” and offered his “deepest condolences” to relatives of those killed.
“I wish for the speedy recovery of all injured”, he added.
Around one kilometer (0. 6 miles) from the disaster site, hundreds of relatives were anxiously awaiting news outside a large tent that had been built as a festival hospital.
“Cooperate, please.”
The Hindu religious calendar’s six-week Kumbh Mela marks its single most significant milestone.
One of the festival’s most holy days is on Wednesday, when saffron-clad holy men take millions of people for a sin-cleansing ritual at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.
Instead, officials were marching through the city, with loudhailers urging pilgrims to avoid the disaster site and take baths elsewhere.
One festival staffer yelled, “We humbly request all devotees do not come to the main bathing spot,” his megaphone ringing.
“Please cooperate with security personnel”.
Millions of people took a bath in the waterways between midnight and the early morning, according to the state government of Uttar Pradesh, which is in charge of organizing the festival.
According to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, medical personnel were “under control” treating those who were seriously hurt in the crush.
Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Indian opposition, attributed the disaster to poor crowd control, which placed a premium on attracting wealthy pilgrims’ comfort.
“Mismanagement and the administration’s special focus on VIP movement instead of common devotees are responsible for this tragic incident”, he wrote on social media.
My family became frightened.
Due to the large crowd at Prayagraj, Railway official Manish Kumar reported that numerous special train services meant to transport pilgrims had been postponed.
Some devoted people made the decision to leave the city quickly.
Attendee Sanjay Nishad told AFP, “I saw the bathing site and heard the news.”
“My family got scared, so we’re leaving”.
The Kumbh Mela is based on Hindu mythology, which involves deities and demons fighting for control of a pitcher filled with the nectar of immortality.
Up to 400 million pilgrims would be expected to arrive before the festival’s final day on February 26. Organisers have compared the scale of the festival to that of a temporary nation.
Police this year installed hundreds of cameras mounted on poles and a fleet of overhead drones at the festival site and on the roads leading to the sprawling encampment in awareness of the risk of deadly crowd accidents.
A sophisticated command and control center is notified of staff when crowd members become so concentrated that they pose a safety risk.
One of the highest death tolls in a crowd-related disaster ever recorded at the Kumbh Mela on one day of the festival in 1954, totaling more than 400 people died.
The last time the festival was held in Prayagraj’s northern city was in 2013, when 36 people were killed.
Source: Channels TV
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