MAHA KUMBH NAGAR: At least 30 people died and 60 were injured in a pre-dawn stampede at the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, where a massive sacred gathering turned into a scene of chaos and devastation on Wednesday.
The tragedy unfolded as millions of devotees converged at the bathing ghats for the ‘Amrit Snan’ on ‘Mauni Amavasya,’ one of the most auspicious bathing days of the six-week-long religious festival. During a press conference, DIG Kumbh Mela Vaibhav Krishna confirmed that due to a surge in the crowd, the barricades broke, resulting in the stampede.
“The crowd on this side crossed to the other side and started running over devotees waiting for Brahm Muhurta… The administration quickly enforced the rescue operation, created a green corridor for ambulances, and took 90 injured to the hospitals. Unfortunately, 30 of those devotees have died,” Krishna told journalists.
According to officials, a large number of pilgrims turned up for a holy bath on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya, which led to a stampede.
Addressing the media, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the situation is under control, but the crowd pressure remains. He urged devotees to take a dip at the closest ghats instead of stressing over going to the Sangam Nose. The Chief Minister also urged citizens not to believe in rumours.
The Uttar Pradesh government expected 10 crore pilgrims at the Maha Kumbh in just one day and had stepped up security in preparation for the ‘Amrit Snan.’
Eyewitnesses described a chaotic surge in the crowd, with devotees toppling over each other in a desperate rush to reach the holy waters. Some blamed the mismanagement of crowd control, while others pointed to route closures that led to a bottleneck, triggering panic at the world’s biggest religious gathering.
Several hours after the incident took place between 1-2 am, Maha Kumbh DIG Vaibhav Krishna told reporters in the evening that the incident occurred due to the pressure of the crowd. The crowd broke barricades and jumped to the other side, crushing those waiting there, he said.
The officer said 25 of the deceased have been identified. Four of them are from Karnataka and one each from Assam and Gujarat. Among those injured, 36 are undergoing treatment at the hospital, and the rest have been sent with their families.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to the devotees who lost their family members in the stampede, describing the tragedy as “extremely saddening.”
Later in the night, Yogi Adityanath announced a three-member judicial commission, comprising Justice Harsh Kumar, former Director-General of Police G V K Gupta, and retired IAS officer V K Singh, to look into the reasons behind the stampede. He also announced an ex gratia of Rs 25 lakh each for the kin of the deceased.
“It is important to get to the bottom of the whole episode on how such a tragedy occurred,” a visibly emotional Adityanath said, adding that the chief secretary and DGP would visit the Maha Kumbh on Thursday for an in-depth probe into the tragic incident.
The officer said the government has issued strict directives that there will be no VIP protocol in the mela from now onwards. According to eyewitness accounts, one of the reasons for the tragedy was the sudden surge of pilgrims at the Sangam, all driven by an obvious desire to take the holy dip at 3 am, the start of the auspicious hour.
After the stampede, Amrit Snan, the traditional bathing ritual of akharas, was deferred but resumed in the afternoon. The bathing for devotees, however, continued at the tightly packed Sangam and other ghats along the Ganges, which were less crowded. Nearly six crore devotees took a dip on Wednesday.
Around 2 am, the blaring sirens of ambulances and police vehicles rushing to the Sangam pierced through the continuous chants of mantras and shlokas echoing from loudspeakers across the Kumbh Mela area.
Those injured were taken to the central hospital set up in the Mela area. Relatives of many injured also reached there, as did some senior administrative and police officials.
Security personnel and rescue workers were seen carrying many of the injured on stretchers. People’s belongings, including blankets and bags, lay strewn around.
Sarojini, a devotee from Karnataka, said, “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.”
A man from Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh said his mother was injured and hospitalised, while a middle-aged couple from Meghalaya walked away from the crowd, both of them sobbing and narrating to reporters their harrowing experience of getting caught up in the ruckus.
Another woman at the hospital, whose child suffered injuries in the chaos, narrated her ordeal, claiming, “There was nowhere to go. Some people who pushed us were laughing while we begged them for kindness towards the children.”
Later, addressing a poll rally in Delhi, PM Modi said, “We lost some good souls in the tragic incident at Kumbh, and some people have also got hurt. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and pray for the early recovery of those injured.”
“I am in constant touch with the Uttar Pradesh government. Due to ‘Mauni Amavasya,’ crores of devotees have reached there. For some time, the process of bathing had been halted, but now for several hours, the yatris are taking a bath. I once again convey my condolences to the families,” Modi said.
Adityanath said the incident took place between 1 am and 2 am when some devotees climbed over the barricades at Akhara Marg.
“Between 1 am and 2 am, at the akhara route where arrangements were made for the Amrit Snan of the akharas, some devotees crossed over the barricades and were critically injured. They were immediately rushed to the hospital, where treatment was promptly ensured,” he said after a high-level meeting in Lucknow. On the Amrit Snan by akharas deferred till the afternoon, Adityanath said a consensus was reached with the akharas that they would take the holy dip only after the crowd pressure had decreased at the ghats.
The Opposition criticised the Centre and the UP government over the stampede, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi saying that mismanagement and the administration’s special focus on VIP movement were responsible for the tragic incident.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav demanded that the management of the world’s largest religious event should be immediately handed over to the army.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) sought to know who was responsible for the stampede and claimed that the closure of certain parts of the riverbank for visits by ministers led to such situations.
Religious leaders have also expressed their sorrow over the incident. Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati Maharaj, who was present at the Kumbh, described the tragedy as deeply unfortunate. “All three Shankaracharyas of the country are taking the holy bath today. While we mourn the loss of lives, we must also learn from this incident and ensure that such mishaps do not happen in the future,” he said.
Meanwhile, officials are working to improve crowd management strategies and have urged devotees to follow security protocols to prevent further incidents. Despite the tragedy, the Maha Kumbh continues, with over 5.71 crore devotees taking a holy dip in the Triveni till 4 PM on Wednesday, bringing the total number of bathers during the festival to nearly 19.94 crore.
According to tradition, Akharas belonging to the three sects—Sanyasi, Bairagi, and Udaseen—take the holy dip in a set sequence following a majestic, awe-inspiring procession to the Sangam Ghat. The Triveni Sangam—the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati—is considered the holiest by Hindus, with a belief that taking a dip in it during Maha Kumbh, particularly on special bathing dates like Mauni Amavasya, washes away people’s sins and provides them ‘moksha’ or salvation.
On Tuesday, in view of the anticipated influx of pilgrims, the Mela authorities issued an advisory urging devotees to follow crowd-management guidelines for safety and convenience.
Being held after 12 years, the Maha Kumbh kicked off on January 13 and will continue till February 26. There was a stampede during the 2013 Kumbh, in which dozens of pilgrims were killed at the railway station.