India crowd crushes: dozens feared useless at Kumbh Mela non secular competition – newest updates

A video report of the occasion:

Earlier than Wednesday’s crush, authorities had anticipated a file 100 million folks to throng the non permanent township in Prayagraj for the holy dip in the present day, thought-about essentially the most auspicious day on account of a uncommon alignment of celestial our bodies after 144 years.

The situation of the Kumbh Mela non secular competition, as beneath.

Exterior a makeshift hospital, anxious kinfolk await information of their family members.

Kinfolk looking for misplaced loved-ones.

Authorities are but to make clear how many individuals died in Wednesday’s crush, though officers have instructed the media that greater than half a dozen had been killed.

“More than seven people have been killed in the stampede and about 10 others injured,” an official who didn’t need to be named as a result of he was not authorised to talk to the media, instructed Reuters.

Officers stated there had been just one stampede which, occurred at about 1 am native time. The trigger was unclear.

Witnesses stated devotees began falling on one another when there was an enormous push close to the confluence of the three rivers, the place a holy dip is taken into account notably 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,” stated Vijay Kumar, who got here for the competition from the jap metropolis of Patna.

“There were people lying all around, I don’t know if they were dead or alive.”

A lady who was a part of the group however didn’t give her title additionally instructed information company ANI that she and her mom had been amongst those that fell.

“People kept stepping on us. I am safe but my mother has died,” she stated.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge despatched his condolences to the households of the victims of the crush, and in addition criticised the best way the occasion 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 stated, in a publish 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.”

Main stampedes in India over time:

There have been a number of lethal stampedes in India up to now twenty years. Here’s a loot at these incidents, as compiled by Reuters.

JANUARY 2025: A minimum of six folks had been killed and 35 injured in a stampede close to certainly one of India’s busiest and richest temples, within the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, after 1000’s of religious Hindus assembled there to safe free go to passes.

JULY 2024: Round 121 folks died after 1000’s of devotees rushed to get a more in-depth glimpse of a Hindu preacher within the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh state.

JANUARY 2022: A minimum of 12 folks died and extra had been injured in a stampede on the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir, after an enormous crowd of devotees tried to enter the slender shrine.

NOVEMBER 2013: Round 115 folks had been killed and greater than 100 injured after a stampede on the Ratangarh temple within the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh after greater than 150,000 folks gathered to rejoice Navratri, a nine-day competition that celebrates the Goddess Durga.

FEBRUARY, 2013: A minimum of 36 Hindu pilgrims had been killed in a stampede on the busiest day of the Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh in 2013. Of the useless, 27 had been ladies, together with an eight-year-old lady.

MARCH 2010: A minimum of 63 folks, greater than half of them youngsters, had been killed in a stampede triggered by a large rush without spending a dime meals and garments at a Hindu temple within the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, media reported.

SEPTEMBER 2008: A complete of 250 folks had been trampled to dying on the Chamundagar temple within the northern desert state of Rajasthan as pilgrims gathered to rejoice Navratri.

AUGUST 2008: On the mountaintop Naina Devi temple within the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, about 145 Hindu pilgrims died after rumours of a landslide triggered a stampede.

JANUARY 2005: Greater than 265 Hindu devotees had been killed and tons of extra injured after a stampede on the Mandhardevi temple in Wai city within the western state of Maharashtra. The stampede was brought on by slippery steps main as much as the temple, media reported on the time.

Hannah Ellis-Petersen

The Kumbh Mela competition is a collection of formality baths by Hindu sadhus, or holy males, and different pilgrims on the confluence of three sacred rivers.

Hindus imagine that the legendary Saraswati river as soon as flowed from the Himalayas by way of Prayagraj, assembly there with the Ganges and the Yamuna.

Whilst dozens are feared useless in in the present day’s crush, thousands and thousands of pilgrims have continued to wash.

The official quantity of people that have taken a shower within the river at Kumbh simply in the present day is 17.5 million. The full for the entire competition is round 200 million.

Bathing takes place day-after-day, however on essentially the most auspicious dates, bare, ash-smeared monks cost towards the holy rivers at daybreak. Many pilgrims keep for your complete competition, observing austerity, giving alms and bathing at dawn day-after-day.

“We feel peaceful here and attain salvation from the cycles of life and death,” a pilgrim, Bhagwat Prasad Tiwari, instructed Related Press.

Regardless of warnings to not attempt to bathe on the sangam – the confluence of holy rivers the place the crushes occurred this morning – pilgrims are nonetheless flooding in the direction of the world. Footage from the scene present folks climbing over barricades to get there.

Hannah Ellis-Petersen

In keeping with Indian media, prime minister Narendra Modi has known as the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath twice since this morning’s incident and known as for “immediate measures”.

The Uttar Pradesh authorities has but to provide an official assertion on the incident or affirm the variety of useless and injured

Extra reporting from the scene, courtesy of AFP:

Wednesday marks one of many holiest days within the competition, when saffron-clad holy males had been on account of lead thousands and thousands right into a procession of sin-cleansing ritual bathing on the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.

However as a substitute officers had been strolling the competition website with loudhailers urging pilgrims to avoid the waterways.

“We humbly request all devotees do not come to the main bathing spot,” stated one competition staffer, his voice crackling by way of his megaphone.

“Please cooperate with security personnel.”

Quite a few pilgrims determined to make an early exit from the competition.

“I heard the news and saw the bathing site,” attendee Sanjay Nishad instructed AFP.

“My family got scared, so we’re leaving.”

Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, has urged folks to take baths nearer to them, and to not attempt to head to the sangam, the confluence of rivers the place the crushes occurred this morning.

Nevertheless he didn’t make any particular reference to the crushes, as a substitute warning folks to not “pay any attention to any rumours”. In a publish on X he stated:

Take a shower on the ghat [steps] of Mom Ganga close to to the place you might be, don’t attempt to go in the direction of sangam.

All of it’s best to observe the directions of the administration and cooperate in making preparations.

Persons are bathing peacefully in any respect the ghats of Sangam. Don’t pay any consideration to any rumours.

Reuters reported that prime minister Narendra Modi had spoken to Adityanath and known as for “immediate support measures” citing the information company ANI.

Particulars of what has occurred are nonetheless trickling in. Right here’s what we all know thus far concerning the lethal crushes which have taken place on the Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest non secular competition:

• Studies of the dying toll in Prayagraj, town the place the Hindu competition is happening, have different. The federal government has but to provide an official toll however native officers have stated 38 are useless. One physician instructed AFP 15 folks had died.

• It seems that a couple of crush occurred, though particulars are unclear. The preliminary crush seems to have taken place on the financial institution of the sangam, the holy confluence of three rivers, when folks attempting to wash started falling over individuals who had been sitting or mendacity by the river. Individuals attempting to flee had been then caught in one other crush.

• Spiritual leaders have known as on pilgrims to keep away from heading to the sangam in the present day and to take baths as a substitute at different factors alongside the river.

• The akharas, or sects of sadhus (holy folks), have formally cancelled their bathing in the present day which was on account of begin round 4am.

• Photos from the location confirmed scenes of chaos, with folks stumbling over heaps of belongings as they tried to depart and safety forces struggling to handle giant crowds. Photos additionally confirmed our bodies mendacity on the bottom.

• Individuals had been nonetheless looking for family members misplaced within the crush hours later, gathering on the lacking individuals tent and the hospital the place the useless and injured had been taken.

• Authorities had anticipated a file 100 million folks to take a holy dip on Wednesday, thought-about essentially the most auspicious day on account of a uncommon alignment of celestial our bodies after 144 years.

• The Hindu competition has already seen gigantic each day crowds, with practically 148 million folks attending because it started two weeks in the past.

Hannah Ellis-Petersen

Kinfolk sat exterior the hospital the place the useless and injured had been introduced.

Narayan Singh Lodhi, 50, from Madhya Pradesh stated that his sister-in-law, Hukam Bhai Lodhi, had died within the crush:

She has three youngsters. When it occurred we had been very near the river and there was a giant push. Individuals from reverse instructions began going in the direction of one another and collided after which began pushing one another, looking for their approach out.

I noticed folks falling to the bottom and shouting, and folks began treading on one another. I attempted to rescue as many individuals as doable however I might solely pay money for my spouse and one other lady. I dragged them out. I noticed round 20 our bodies who had been clearly useless on the ground who had been crushed and others had been mendacity there injured crying out for assist.

Nobody got here to rescue the injured and choose up the our bodies for at the least an hour.

A bit extra on the background to the competition, courtesy of an earlier piece by our correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen:

Within the buildup to the competition, which is able to proceed until 26 February, fervent vibrant processions marked the arrival of the 13 akharas, the traditional monastic sects of warrior sadhus who journey from throughout the nation to take part within the spectacle.

There has traditionally been fierce competitors and bloodshed between the akharas, whose members have fought violently on many events and died of their 1000’s over who will get to participate within the holy bathing ritual first.

The size and grandeur of this 12 months’s festivities is predicted to exceed all earlier iterations, in a nod to the Kumbh Mela’s non secular but additionally political significance. That is seen to have change into extra overt below the present Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata social gathering (BJP) authorities, which guidelines within the centre of the nation and in Uttar Pradesh.

Some extra reporting from the scene courtesy of Reuters:

Video and images after the crush confirmed our bodies being stretched away, folks sitting on the bottom crying, whereas others stepped over a carpet of discarded belongings left by folks as they tried to flee the stampede.

A Reuters witness noticed a number of useless our bodies as he adopted dozens of ambulances speeding in the direction of the river financial institution the place the incident occurred.

Officers stated an preliminary crush which occurred round 1 am native time was “not serious”, however its trigger was unclear.

Nevertheless, devotees attempting to flee it had been caught in one other crush at an exit. They then returned in the direction of the pontoon bridges in search of one other approach out solely to seek out it had been closed by authorities.

Scenes of desperation as folks seek for family members

Hannah Ellis-Petersen

There have been scenes of desperation on the lacking individuals tent the place kinfolk of these lacking within the crowd crush had gathered.

Manoj Kumar Paswan, 45, from Uttar Pradesh stated:

My 65 12 months outdated aunt Chanara Prajapat is lacking. We had been close to the sangam (confluence of rivers) and wished to take a shower. However earlier than we might get within the water there was a commotion and folks began falling on one another.

We had been three folks, me, my mom and my aunt. There was a sudden push that was so forceful that I might solely maintain one particular person however I misplaced the hand of my aunt. I in some way managed to seize my mom and we dragged ourselves out.

I went again to search for my aunt however I couldn’t see her wherever. It was a really painful and scary expertise, folks round had been crying and wailing. There have been over a dozen folks mendacity on the ground together with youngsters and folks had been simply trampling over them. I’m very scared for her.

Saroj Bhagri, 60, from Madhya Pradesh stated:

I’ve misplaced my eight-year-old grandson son Chahat Bhagri. We arrived yesterday evening and went for a shower within the river late within the evening. We had been sitting close to the river afterwards having some meals. Abruptly folks began pushing and falling over us and trampling us.

I bought up and I used to be holding his arms however then I used to be pushed and it bought wrenched from me when there was an enormous crush. Once I bought up I couldn’t see him and folks had been operating and screaming. Once I bought up he was gone. There have been folks mendacity on the ground.

He’s solely just a little boy, I hope nothing dangerous has occurred to him.

Hindu non secular chief Jagatguru Rambhadracharya has appealed to devotees to take their dips on the nearest ghat (steps) on the Ganga river and to not try to wash on the sangam, the confluence of the rivers, the Occasions of India studies.

The sangam is the place the crushes are reported to have taken place within the early hours of this morning. He stated:

I enchantment to all of the devotees that as a result of a big crowd has gathered in Prayagraj in the present day, they need to not insist on taking a holy dip solely on the Sangam Ghat. As of now, they need to not depart their camps and search for their safety.

We reported earlier that the akharas, the sects of warrior holymen who come to participate within the bathing rituals, had additionally cancelled their deliberate dips this morning.

Some extra pics from the scene:

What’s the Kumbh Mela?

Hannah Ellis-Petersen

The Kumbh Mela pilgrimage takes place each 12 years and is broadly seen because the “festival of festivals” within the Hindu non secular calendar in India, attended by a vibrant mixture of sadhus or holy males, ascetics, pilgrims and vacationers.

This 12 months’s celebration is especially vital because the Maha or grand Kumbh Mela solely takes locations each 144 years, marking the twelfth Kumbh Mela and a particular celestial alignment of the solar, moon and Jupiter.

Greater than 400 million folks, the most important crowd in its historical past, had been anticipated to attend this 12 months’s festivities, to be held over 45 days in Prayagraj within the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Prayagraj is taken into account notably holy to Hindus as a result of it’s house to Triveni Sangam, the sacred confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and legendary Saraswati rivers. Over the course of the gathering, there are a number of shahi san, holy bathing days when the devotees immerse themselves within the waters within the perception it can purify the soul.