Stampede kills 30 at largest religious gathering in India

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A stampede broke out in a northern Indian city as millions gathered at the world’s largest religious congregation, leaving 30 dead and many injured.

A huge crowd of devotees broke through barricades in the early hours Wednesday crushing people waiting for a holy bath, Vaibhav Krishna, deputy inspector general of Uttar Pradesh Police at Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, said at a news conference. More than 90 injured in the stampede were rushed to the hospital, of whom 30 died, he said.

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India is hosting the Kumbh Mela, a massive Hindu religious event, in the nation’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers. The six-week-long event is expected to draw as many as 400 million pilgrims, in what is a mammoth logistics operation for the state government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a post on X condoled the death of devotees in the incident. While local media have been reporting about deaths since morning, the state administration governed by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party withheld releasing any casualty figures earlier.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told reporters earlier that many people were “critically injured” and were taken to hospitals in the area. “There is a huge crowd here. About 80-100 million devotees are in Prayagraj currently,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken stock of the situation, the chief minister said, adding situation at the gathering is under control.

Stampedes during religious gatherings are not uncommon in India. In 2013, dozens of devotees were killed in a stampede at the Prayagraj railway station during the Kumbh Mela. About 116 people were killed in a stampede last year at an over-crowded religious event in Uttar Pradesh.

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