15 dead in India stampede at Hindu mega-festival

A pre-dawn stampede at the world’s largest religious gathering killed at least 15 people in India Wednesday, with many more injured after a surging crowd spilled out of a police cordon and trampled bystanders.

Deadly crowd incidents are frequent occurrence at Indian religious festivals, including the Kumbh Mela, which attracts tens of millions of devotees every 12 years to the northern city of Prayagraj.

As pilgrims rushed to participate in a sacred day of ritual bathing, people sleeping and sitting on the ground near the rivers told AFP they were trampled by huge swells of devotees coming towards them in the darkness.

“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.”

Rescue teams carrying victims from the accident site weaved through piles of clothes, shoes and other discarded belongings.

Police were seen carrying stretchers bearing the bodies of victims draped with thick blankets.

“At least 15 people” were killed with dozens more injured, a doctor at a hospital tending to survivors told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to talk to media.

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.

Dozens of relatives were anxiously waiting for news outside a large tent serving as a purpose-built hospital for the festival around one kilometre (0.6 miles) from the disaster site.

– ‘Please cooperate’ –

The six-week Kumbh Mela is the single biggest milestone on the Hindu religious calendar.

Wednesday marks one of the holiest days in the festival, when saffron-clad holy men lead millions in a sin-cleansing ritual of bathing at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.

Instead, officials were strolling the festival with loudhailers pleading with pilgrims to keep away from the disaster site and bathe at other locations.

“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.”

The Uttar Pradesh state government, responsible for staging the festival, said millions had already bathed in the waterways between midnight and the early morning.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told reporters that medical workers were treating those seriously injured in the crush, adding that the situation was “under control”.

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi blamed the disaster on poor crowd management that prioritised the comfort of prominent pilgrims.

“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 got scared’ –

Railway official Manish Kumar said numerous special train services scheduled to transport pilgrims had been halted due to massive crowding at Prayagraj.

Some devotees decided to make an early exit from the city.

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

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

The Kumbh Mela is rooted in Hindu mythology, a battle between deities and demons for control of a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality.

Organisers have likened the scale of this year’s festival to that of a temporary country, forecasting up to 400 million pilgrims would visit before the final day on February 26.

Mindful of the risk of deadly crowd accidents, police this year installed hundreds of cameras at the festival site and on roads leading to the sprawling encampment, mounted on poles and a fleet of overhead drones.
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The surveillance network is fed into a sophisticated command and control centre that is meant to alert staff if sections of the crowd get so concentrated that they pose a safety threat.

More than 400 people died after they were trampled or drowned at the Kumbh Mela on a single day of the festival in 1954, one of the largest tolls in a crowd-related disaster globally.

Another 36 people were crushed to death in 2013, the last time the festival was staged in the northern city of Prayagraj.