Summary of the day …
Dozens of people were killed in a pre-dawn stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India on Wednesday. State authorities said at least 30 people were killed and 60 were injured in the pre-dawn stampede. Three police sources and a Reuters witness put the toll at nearly 40
Bodies were still being brought to the Moti Lal Nehru Medical College hospital morgue more than 12 hours after the tragedy at the world’s biggest gathering of people. 100 million people had been anticipated on Wednesday
The stampede appears to have occurred when crowds surged towards the confluence of three rivers, where immersion is considered particularly sacred
India’s prime minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to those who had lost loved ones, in an incident he described as “extremely sad”. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said “mismanagement” of the festival by the administration as being responsible for the deaths
Indian authorities have been slow to release information about the accident, with the first official casualty figures being issued nearly 18 hours after the stampede, while the festival continued on as planned
Festivities at the Kumbh Mela have continued on Wednesday, despite the stampede.
Police in India confirm at least 30 killed and 60 more people injured in crush
Reuters is carrying a snap that state authorities have said there are at least 30 dead, and 60 other people wounded in the crush at the Kumbh Mela festival.
Associated Press reports police officer Vaibhav Krishna in Prayagraj said the 60 injured were rushed to hospital. It appears to be the first official casualty tally for the accident, which happened in the early morning in northern India, about 16 hours ago.
More details soon …
Updated
The video below shows the immediate aftermath of the crush at the festival, as ambulances ferried victims through crowds.
As we’ve been reporting throughout the day, there is yet no official confirmation on the number of people killed as a result of the incident, although state authorities say 60 people have been injured
Updated
There is still considerable confusion over the casualty toll at the Kumbh Mela festival in northern India. Early a Reuters witness said they had seen 39 bodies. A local Hindi-language newspaper also said that one of their reporters had witnessed at least 20 bodies.
Associated Press is reporting that a doctor has told the news agency that at least 15 people have been killed and with “over 30 injured – five in serious condition”. It said the doctor spoke anonymously because they were not authorised to speak with the media.
Indian authorities are yet to release any official figures on casualties from the accident.
Hannah Ellis-Petersen is in Prayagraj for the Guardian, and has written this explainer on the background of the Kumbh Mela and what we know about what has happened.
Here are some of the latest images from the site of the Kumbh Mela festival, where it is believed at least 39 people have been killed in a crowd stampede.
At least 39 people now believed killed in crush at Kumbh Mela festival
At least 39 people are now believed to have been killed in a pre-dawn crush at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India on Wednesday, with bodies reportedly still being brought to a local morgue.
A Reuters witness counted 39 bodies inside the morgue, and the news agency reports that three police sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said nearly 40 bodies had been recovered.
More than 12 hours after the tragedy at the world’s biggest gathering of people there was still no official figure on casualties, although in a statement India’s prime minister Narendra Modi confirmed there had been fatalities by offering condolences to those who had lost loved ones, in an incident he described as “extremely sad”.
Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state where the festival city of Prayagraj is located, said the stampede was set off when some devotees tried to jump barricades put up to manage crowds.
One witness, speaking to Reuters, said four members of her family had been killed, adding “Police didn’t make proper arrangements. They are responsible for this.”
Reuters reports there were 15 ambulances outside the local Moti Lal Nehru Medical College hospital morgue, and about half a dozen people looking inside for their loved ones.
The Kumbh Mela pilgrimage takes place every 12 years and is widely seen as the “festival of festivals” in the Hindu religious calendar in India. More than 400 million people are expected to attend during the six weeks it lasts. Authorities had expected a record 100 million people on Wednesday alone.
Here is a map showing what we know of the location of the crush that is believed to have killed at least ten people at the Kumbh Mela festival.
Agence France-Presse has spoken to witnesses to the crushing among the crowds at the Kumbh Mela festival.
University student Ruchi Bharti told the agency “If you see advertisements it seems like the government is providing world class facilities. But this stampede proved that was all a lie.”
Opposition politicians in India have been critical of the organisation of the festival, with Rahul Gandhi decrying “mismanagement” by the administration as being responsible for the deaths.
Another witness, Renu Devi, told AFP “The entire crowd fell on top of me, trampling me as it moved forward. When the crowd surged, elderly people and women were crushed, and no one came forward to help.”
The death toll remains unclear, with officials still yet to make any formal announcement. One doctor told AFP anonymously that “at least 15 people” had died, with local media putting the figure higher at 20, and some sources suggesting as many as 40 people may have died.
Reuters, citing three police sources, reports that “nearly 40 bodies were brought to a hospital morgue near the site of a stampede.”
More details soon …
The death and injury toll still remains unclear, although India’s prime minister Narendra Modi has acknowledged there have been some fatalities.
Associated Press reports the agency has, it says, “made repeated attempts to confirm the death toll and total number of injured, contacting multiple senior officials, but all said they were not authorised to release figures.”
According to the website of Hindi-language newspaper Dainik Bhaskar, one of its reporters counted 20 bodies at a medical centre. The paper also published an unverified image which appears to show at least 11 bodies lying on a local hospital floor.
Relatives gather at hospital mortuary as festival continues
There are scenes of distress as relatives gather outside a hospital mortuary in Prayagraj, but elsewhere the festival continues, with pilgrims bathing on the banks of the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.
Updated
Reuters reports that there is still no official figure on the number of people killed or injured after the deadly crush at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India, on one of the holiest days for Hindus.
Shweta Tripathi, a resident of Sant Kabir Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, told the news agency:
We saw people falling, lying one above another and crushing others to find a safe place. As we went ahead, we saw clothes, bodies of people, their bags, clothes and other belongings littered around. It all happened so fast that I couldn’t process it and started crying. Luckily none from my group was hurt and we are all safe. I don’t think I am coming ever again.
The witness reported seeing a child and his relative crying next to bodies of their loved ones.
Updated
The PTI news agency in India has spoken to people in the crowd who experienced crushing.
A woman from Karnataka told the news agency “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. There was no chance for escape, there was pushing from all sides.”
Another woman, whose child was injured, told reporters that “There was nowhere to go. Some people who pushed us were laughing.”
Reporting for the BBC from Prayagraj, Vikas Pandey notes that “tens of thousands of people are still arriving to take a dip at the confluence” despite the earlier crush, which has killed at least ten people according to local reports.
Pandey added that they could see “stricter security measures are in place now.”
India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, has also posted a message to social media about the crush, describing the accident as “extremely painful”.
He added “My deepest condolences to the bereaved families of those who have lost their loved ones in this accident. Along with this, I wish for the speedy recovery of all the injured.”
Singh said that local authorities were “providing all possible help to the victims”.
What we know so far …
Dozens of people are feared to have died in 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
Citing local reports, Associated Press put the death toll at at least ten people. Other local sources put the figure higher. Authorities are expecting 400 million people to attend over the six weeks of the festival
Shoes and clothes could be seen strewn all over the ground where the crowd crushes happened by the river bank, amid scenes of desperation at nearby makeshift tent hospitals where the injured and dead were initially brought
In a message, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi offered his “deepest condolences to the devotees who have lost their loved ones” without acknowledging an exact death toll
Uttar Pradesh state’s top elected official, Yogi Adityanath, said in a televised statement that “The situation is now under control, but there is a massive crowd of pilgrims”
Wednesday was a sacred day during the six-week festival, and authorities were expecting a record 100 million devotees to engage in a ritual bath at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers
Some more pictures from Kumbh Mela:
The Kumbh Mela, as seen from space:
Donald Pettit, a NASA astronaut, has posted these photos of the world’s largest religious gathering, as seen from space, on his X account.
2025 Maha Kumbh Mela Ganges River pilgrimage from the ISS at night. The largest human gathering in the world is well lit. pic.twitter.com/l9YD6o0Llo
— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) January 26, 2025
Prime minister Narendra Modi offers his condolences to Kumbh Mela victims
Indian authorities are yet to release any official death toll of what is believed to be more than one deadly crowd crush in the early hours of Wednesday morning at the world’s largest religious gathering.
But in a statement posted on X, India’s prime minister Modi described the incident as “extremely sad”, and offered his condolences to those who had lost loved ones.
“My deepest condolences to the devotees who have lost their loved ones in this. Along with this, I wish for the speedy recovery of all the injured,” he said, “The local administration is engaged in helping the victims in every possible way. In this regard, I have spoken to chief minister Yogi ji and I am constantly in touch with the state government.”
Updated
A look at the scale of this year’s Kumbh Mela:
At least 400 million people — more than the population of the United States — are expected in Prayagraj over the next 45 days, according to officials. That is around 200 times the 2 million pilgrims that arrived in the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage last year.
The festival is a big test for Indian authorities to showcase the Hindu religion, tourism and crowd management, writes Associated Press.
A vast ground along the banks of the rivers has been converted into a sprawling tent city equipped with more 3,000 kitchens and 150,000 restrooms. Divided into 25 sections and spreading over 40 square kilometers (15 square miles), the tent city also has housing, roads, electricity and water, communication towers and 11 hospitals. Murals depicting stories from Hindu scriptures are painted on the walls.
Indian Railways is operating more than 90 special trains on nearly 3,300 trips during the festival to transport devotees, beside regular trains.
About 50,000 security personnel – a 50% increase from 2019 – are also stationed in the city to maintain law and order and manage crowds. More than 2,500 cameras, some powered by AI, will send crowd movement and density information to four central control rooms, where officials can quickly deploy personnel to avoid crushes.
Updated
Dozens feared dead in crushes at India's Kumbh Mela religious festival
If you are just tuning into this story, here is a quick recap of what you need to know.
Dozens of people are feared to have died in 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.
People were crushed in the early hours of Wednesday as tens of millions of people flocked to immerse themselves in the sacred confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, on one of the most auspicious days of the Hindu festival.
The Kumbh Mela, located in northern India, is the world’s largest religious gathering.
According to accounts by devotees, one of the worst crushes occurred after large numbers went down to the river to bathe, while others were sleeping on the floor around the congested riverbank.
As the crowd surged in multiple directions, people began to push their way out and many began to fall to the floor, pushing over barriers and trampling each other. Another crowd crush was reported to have taken place around one of the entrances to the festival.
In the aftermath, multiple bodies were seen lying on the floor around the banks of the river. By mid morning on Wednesday there was still no official confirmation from the police or Uttar Pradesh government on the official fatalities.
The full story by our correspondent, Hannah Ellis Petersen, is here.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath of Uttar Pradesh gives a statement
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath of Uttar Pradesh, the state in which Prayagraj is located, has appealed to people to take a dip in the Ganges at their nearest ghats and not try to reach the Sangam Nose, according to an official video statement, posted on X.
The chief minister said in the video that some devotees had been seriously injured and taken to hospital, but he did not acknowledge any deaths from Wednesday’s crush.
Updated
A video report of the event:
Before Wednesday’s crush, authorities had expected a record 100 million people to throng the temporary township in Prayagraj for the holy dip today, considered the most auspicious day due to a rare alignment of celestial bodies after 144 years.
The location of the Kumbh Mela religious festival, as below.
Scenes from the Kumbh Mela after the crush
Outside a makeshift hospital, anxious relatives await news of their loved ones.
Relatives searching for lost loved-ones.
Authorities are yet to clarify how many people died in Wednesday’s crush, although officials have told the media that more than half a dozen were killed.
“More than seven people have been killed in the stampede and about 10 others injured,” an official who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters.
Officials said there had been only one crush which, occurred at about 1am local time. The cause was unclear.
Witnesses said devotees started falling on each other when there was a huge push near the confluence of the three rivers, where a holy dip is considered particularly sacred.
“We had barricades in front of us and police with batons on the other side. The push from behind was very powerful … people started falling,” said Vijay Kumar, who came for the festival from the eastern city of Patna.
“There were people lying all around, I don’t know if they were dead or alive.”
A woman who was part of the crowd but did not give her name also told news agency ANI that she and her mother were among those who fell.
“People kept stepping on us. I am safe but my mother has died,” she said.
Updated
Congress leader blames crush on 'half-baked' arrangements and 'mismanagement'
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge sent his condolences to the families of the victims of the crush, and also criticised the way the event has been managed.
“During the Maha Kumbh, the news of stampede on the banks of Teerthraj Sangam in which several people lost their lives and many others got injured is extremely heart-rending,” he said, in a post on X, “Our deepest condolences to the families of the devotees and we wish for the speedy recovery of the injured.”
“Half-baked arrangements, VIP movement, paying more attention to self-promotion than management and mismanagement are responsible for this,” he added, “Despite spending thousands of crores of rupees, such arrangements are condemnable.”
“Arrangements for accommodation, food, first aid and movement of devotees should be expanded and VIP movement should be curbed. This is what our saints and sages also want.”
Updated
Major crushes in India over the years:
There have been several deadly crushes in India in the past two decades. Here is a look at those incidents, as compiled by Reuters.
JANUARY 2025: At least six people were killed and 35 injured in a crush near one of India’s busiest and richest temples, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, after thousands of devout Hindus assembled there to secure free visit passes.
JULY 2024: Around 121 people died after thousands of devotees rushed to get a closer glimpse of a Hindu preacher in the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh state.
JANUARY 2022: At least 12 people died and more were injured in a crush at the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir, after a huge crowd of devotees tried to enter the narrow shrine.
NOVEMBER 2013: Around 115 people were killed and more than a hundred injured after a crush at the Ratangarh temple in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh after more than 150,000 people gathered to celebrate Navratri, a nine-day festival that celebrates the Goddess Durga.
FEBRUARY 2013: At least 36 Hindu pilgrims were killed in a crush on the busiest day of the Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh in 2013. Of the dead, 27 were women, including an eight-year-old girl.
MARCH 2010: At least 63 people, more than half of them children, were killed in a crush triggered by a massive rush for free food and clothes at a Hindu temple in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, media reported.
SEPTEMBER 2008: A total of 250 people were trampled to death at the Chamundagar temple in the northern desert state of Rajasthan as pilgrims gathered to celebrate Navratri.
AUGUST 2008: At the mountaintop Naina Devi temple in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, about 145 Hindu pilgrims died after rumours of a landslide triggered a crush.
JANUARY 2005: More than 265 Hindu devotees were killed and hundreds more injured after a crush at the Mandhardevi temple in Wai town in the western state of Maharashtra. The crush was caused by slippery steps leading up to the temple, media reported at the time.
Updated
The Kumbh Mela festival is a series of ritual baths by Hindu sadhus, or holy men, and other pilgrims at the confluence of three sacred rivers.
Hindus believe that the mythical Saraswati river once flowed from the Himalayas through Prayagraj, meeting there with the Ganges and the Yamuna.
Even as dozens are feared dead in today’s crush, millions of pilgrims have continued to bathe.
The official number of people who have taken a bath in the river at Kumbh just today is 17.5 million. The total for the whole festival is around 200 million.
Bathing takes place every day, but on the most auspicious dates, naked, ash-smeared monks charge toward the holy rivers at dawn. Many pilgrims stay for the entire festival, observing austerity, giving alms and bathing at sunrise every day.
“We feel peaceful here and attain salvation from the cycles of life and death,” a pilgrim, Bhagwat Prasad Tiwari, told Associated Press.
Updated
Despite warnings not to try to bathe at the sangam – the confluence of holy rivers where the crushes took place this morning – pilgrims are still flooding towards the area. Pictures from the scene show people climbing over barricades to get there.
According to Indian media, prime minister Narendra Modi has called the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath twice since this morning’s incident and called for “immediate measures”.
The Uttar Pradesh government has yet to give an official statement on the incident or confirm the number of dead and injured
More reporting from the scene, courtesy of AFP:
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 humbly 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.
“I heard the news and saw the bathing site,” attendee Sanjay Nishad told AFP.
“My family got scared, so we’re leaving.”
Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, has urged people to take baths nearer to them, and not to try to head to the sangam, the confluence of rivers where the crushes took place this morning.
However he did not make any specific reference to the crushes, instead warning people not to “pay any attention to any rumours”. In a post on X he said:
Take a bath at the ghat [steps] of Mother Ganga near to where you are, do not try to go towards sangam.
All of you should follow the instructions of the administration and cooperate in making arrangements.
People are bathing peacefully at all the ghats of Sangam. Do not pay any attention to any rumours.
महाकुम्भ-2025, प्रयागराज आए प्रिय श्रद्धालुओं,
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) January 29, 2025
माँ गंगा के जिस घाट के आप समीप हैं, वहीं स्नान करें, संगम नोज की ओर जाने का प्रयास न करें।
आप सभी प्रशासन के निर्देशों का अनुपालन करें, व्यवस्था बनाने में सहयोग करें।
संगम के सभी घाटों पर शांतिपूर्वक स्नान हो रहा है। किसी भी अफवाह…
Reuters reported that prime minister Narendra Modi had spoken to Adityanath and called for “immediate support measures” citing the news agency ANI.
Updated
What we know so far
Details of what has happened are still trickling in. Here’s what we know so far about the deadly crushes that have taken place at the Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest religious festival:
Reports of the death toll in Prayagraj, the city where the Hindu festival is taking place, have varied. The government has yet to give an official toll but local officials have said 38 are dead. One doctor told AFP 15 people had died.
It appears that more than one crush took place, although details are unclear. The initial crush appears to have taken place at the bank of the sangam, the holy confluence of three rivers, when people trying to bathe began falling over people who were sitting or lying by the river. People trying to escape were then caught in another crush.
Religious leaders have called on pilgrims to avoid heading to the sangam today and to take baths instead at other points along the river.
The akharas, or sects of sadhus (holy people), have officially cancelled their bathing today which was due to start around 4am.
Images from the site showed scenes of chaos, with people stumbling over heaps of belongings as they tried to leave and security forces struggling to manage large crowds. Images also showed bodies lying on the ground.
People were still searching for loved ones lost in the crush hours later, gathering at the missing persons tent and the hospital where the dead and injured were taken.
Authorities had expected a record 100 million people to take a holy dip on Wednesday, considered the most auspicious day due to a rare alignment of celestial bodies after 144 years.
The Hindu festival has already seen gigantic daily crowds, with nearly 148 million people attending since it began two weeks ago.
Updated
Relatives sat outside the hospital where the dead and injured were brought.
Narayan Singh Lodhi, 50, from Madhya Pradesh said that his sister-in-law, Hukam Bhai Lodhi, had died in the crush:
She has three children. When it happened we were very close to the river and there was a big push. People from opposite directions started going towards each other and collided and then started pushing each other, trying to find their way out.
I saw people falling to the ground and shouting, and people started treading on each other. I tried to rescue as many people as possible but I could only get hold of my wife and another woman. I dragged them out. I saw around 20 bodies who were clearly dead on the floor who had been crushed and others were lying there injured crying out for help.
No one came to rescue the injured and pick up the bodies for at least an hour.
Updated
A bit more on the background to the festival, courtesy of an earlier piece by our correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen:
In the buildup to the festival, which will continue till 26 February, fervent colourful processions marked the arrival of the 13 akharas, the ancient monastic sects of warrior sadhus who travel from across the country to participate in the spectacle.
There has historically been fierce competition and bloodshed between the akharas, whose members have fought violently on many occasions and died in their thousands over who gets to take part in the holy bathing ritual first.
The scale and grandeur of this year’s festivities is expected to exceed all previous iterations, in a nod to the Kumbh Mela’s religious but also political significance. This is seen to have become more overt under the current Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government, which rules in the centre of the country and in Uttar Pradesh.
Some more reporting from the scene courtesy of Reuters:
Video and photographs after the crush showed bodies being stretched away, people sitting on the ground crying, while others stepped over a carpet of discarded belongings left by people as they tried to escape the stampede.
A Reuters witness saw several dead bodies as he followed dozens of ambulances rushing towards the river bank where the incident occurred.
Officials said an initial crush which occurred around 1 am local time was “not serious”, but its cause was unclear.
However, devotees trying to escape it were caught in another crush at an exit. They then returned towards the pontoon bridges looking for another way out only to find it had been closed by authorities.
Scenes of desperation as people search for loved ones
There were scenes of desperation at the missing persons tent where relatives of those missing in the crowd crush had gathered.
Manoj Kumar Paswan, 45, from Uttar Pradesh said:
My 65 year old aunt Chanara Prajapat is missing. We were near the sangam (confluence of rivers) and wanted to take a bath. But before we could get in the water there was a commotion and people started falling on each other.
We were three people, me, my mother and my aunt. There was a sudden push that was so forceful that I could only hold one person but I lost the hand of my aunt. I somehow managed to grab my mother and we dragged ourselves out.
I went back to look for my aunt but I couldn’t see her anywhere. It was a very painful and scary experience, people around were crying and wailing. There were over a dozen people lying on the floor including children and people were just trampling over them. I am very scared for her.
Saroj Bhagri, 60, from Madhya Pradesh said:
I have lost my eight-year-old grandson son Chahat Bhagri. We arrived yesterday night and went for a bath in the river late in the night. We were sitting near the river afterwards having some food. Suddenly people started pushing and falling over us and trampling us.
I got up and I was holding his hands but then I was pushed and it got wrenched from me when there was a huge crush. When I got up I couldn’t see him and people were running and screaming. When I got up he was gone. There were people lying on the floor.
He is only a little boy, I hope nothing bad has happened to him.
Updated
Hindu religious leader Jagatguru Rambhadracharya has appealed to devotees to take their dips at the nearest ghat (steps) on the Ganga river and not to attempt to bathe at the sangam, the confluence of the rivers, the Times of India reports.
The sangam is where the crushes are reported to have taken place in the early hours of this morning. He said:
I appeal to all the devotees that because a large crowd has gathered in Prayagraj today, they should not insist on taking a holy dip only at the Sangam Ghat. As of now, they should not leave their camps and look for their security.
We reported earlier that the akharas, the sects of warrior holymen who come to take part in the bathing rituals, had also cancelled their planned dips this morning.
Updated
Some more pics from the scene:
What is the Kumbh Mela?
The Kumbh Mela pilgrimage takes place every 12 years and is widely seen as the “festival of festivals” in the Hindu religious calendar in India, attended by a vibrant mix of sadhus or holy men, ascetics, pilgrims and tourists.
This year’s celebration is particularly significant as the Maha or grand Kumbh Mela only takes places every 144 years, marking the 12th Kumbh Mela and a special celestial alignment of the sun, moon and Jupiter.
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.
Prayagraj is considered particularly holy to Hindus because it is home to Triveni Sangam, the sacred confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers. Over the course of the gathering, there are several shahi san, holy bathing days when the devotees immerse themselves in the waters in the belief it will purify the soul.
Wednesday is when the sadhus (holy people), all 13 sects of them, take their holy baths in the Ganges.
The holy bathing time is at 4am and that is around the time that the crowd crushes are thought to have started. It appears three separate crushes took place, as people surged forward, into groups of people who were sitting or lying on the ground on the banks of the river.
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”
The government is still not giving official figures.
One doctor has told the news agency AFP at least 15 people are so far known to have been killed in the crowd crushes.
“At least 15 people have died for now. Others are being treated,” said the doctor in Prayagraj city, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to talk to media.
Other local officials have said the death toll is even higher. We’ll bring you more updates when we have them.
There is now a very heavy police and paramilitary presence but the crowds here are still very thick.
There are shoes and clothes all over the floor at the scene where the crowd crush happened.
Akharas, the holy sects of sadhus (holy people), have officially cancelled their bathing today which was due to start around 4am:
#WATCH | #Mahakumbh | Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh: "Some 'Devta' of the Panchayati Mahanirvani went ahead. The situation did not seem to be suitable because of the large crowd. So the Akhara has stopped the 'Snan' for the Mahamandaleshwars..." pic.twitter.com/0VnZvW0Tyd
— ANI (@ANI) January 29, 2025
The government was making announcements on Tuesday night telling people to get in the water, dip twice and leave the site instantly, calling it a sin to do the third dip because they wanted to get people away from the site so quickly.
Despite word spreading of the crushes, large crowds are still heading towards the river to take a dip.
29 January is one of the holiest days of the Kumbh Mela. It’s the day when most people will come to take a holy bath.
Hundreds of millions of people had been expected to come but it seems numbers have exceeded even what the government expected. Over the past 24 hours people have been arriving non-stop.
Pictures are also beginning to emerge from the scene, showing ambulances and injured pilgrims being carried away by rescue workers:
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.
Opening summary
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.
