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Reuters

Millions of devout Hindus thronged the northern Indian city of Prayagraj on Thursday for the Maha Kumbh festival, a day after dozens died in a stampede on the most auspicious day of the six-week event.
Train and bus stations in the city saw a surge in crowds as people continued to arrive for the festival, although some devotees remained nervous after the deadly crush.
Krishna Soni, a student from the western state of Rajasthan’s Bikaner city, and his family of eight linked themselves together with string to ensure they would not lose each other in the massive crowd.
“We are walking very carefully and trying to avoid the crowded areas,” he said.

Police said 30 people were killed on Wednesday in the stampede at the world’s biggest gathering of humanity and 60 were injured, but sources said the death toll was more than 50 and a Reuters witness counted at least 39 bodies in the morgue.
Police officers, however, stuck by the official toll.
“Many people die here everyday due to various reasons so those extra dead bodies could have been from other cases … The injured are totally out of danger,” senior police officer Vaibhav Krishna said.
Authorities have ordered a probe into the incident, which occurred when people surged towards the confluence of three sacred rivers – Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati believed to flow underground – to take a dip.
Harsh Kumar, the retired judge heading the probe panel, told news agency ANI: “We are expected to submit the report within a month”.
On Wednesday, more than 76 million people took what is called a “royal dip” – taken on days considered more sacred – in the river waters until 8pm.

Devout Hindus believe taking a dip at the river confluence absolves them of sins, and during the Kumbh also brings salvation from the cycle of birth and death.
Three more “royal dips”, which attract large crowds, are scheduled before the festival ends on February 26.
On Thursday, more than 9 million people took a holy dip by 10am, officials said, but the situation remained “under control”.
New steps would be taken to prevent such incidents, they said.
“We will be dividing the entire area into many more sectors, which will have additional forces,” Krishna said, adding that devotees would also be requested to go to other banks instead of coming only to the confluence.
The Kumbh Mela – held every 12 years – is expected to draw some 400 million devotees in 2025, officials estimate. The haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, in comparison, drew 1.8 million people last year.
Opposition leaders and newspaper editorials have blamed the stampede on mismanagement and called for better crowd planning to prevent such incidents.
The festival is taking place at a 4,000 hectare (9,900 acre) temporary city created for the purpose on the river banks – the size of 7,500 football fields.
Around 150,000 tents have been erected to accommodate devotees along with almost an equal number of toilets.
The Maha Kumbh festival has had stampedes in the past. In 2013, at least 40 pilgrims who were taking part in the festival were killed in a stampede at a railway station in Prayagraj.
Deadly stampedes are relatively common around Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small areas. In July at least 116 people died, most of them women and children, when thousands at a religious gathering in northern India stampeded at a tent camp in Hathras town.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


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India

This satellite image taken on January 29, 2025, shows large crowds along the banks of the Yamuna and Ganges rivers, during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj, India. Photo: Maxar Technologies via AFP

Pilgrims gather to take a holy dip on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

A devotee crosses over a barricade after the deadly stampede on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

At least 30 die in stampede at India’s Kumbh Mela festival

Pilgrims look for their belongings at the site of a stampede amid the ongoing Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

An ambulance moves in the middle of a crowd of Hindu devotees gathered for a holy dip during the Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, on Wednesday. Photo: AP 

A man holds the hand of a victim after a deadly stampede at the Maha Kumbh festival on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Why a Hindu festival in India became a political controversy

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (centre), with cabinet ministers taking a bath at Sangam, the confluence of the rivers Ganges and the Yamuna and mythical Saraswati river, in Prayagraj, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on January 22 during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival. Photo: AP

Hindu pilgrims gather near Allahabad fort on the banks of the river Yamuna during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival, in Prayagraj on January 21. Photo: AFP

A vegetable vendor sits beside a bonfire on his handcart in New Delhi on January 6. Cost-of-living issues have garnered attention in the Delhi elections. Photo: AFP

Pilgrims wait in a queue to visit a temple of Hindu monkey god Hanuman during the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj on Sunday. Photo: AFP

15 million Hindu pilgrims take holy bath in river as Maha Kumbh Mela festival begins

A Hindu devotee takes a holy dip at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers with the mythical, invisible Saraswati river, at the start of the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India. Photo: Retuters

Devotees gather at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India to take a holy dip in the waters at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers on the first day of the world’s largest gathering, expected to draw 400 million Hindus. Photo: Reuters

A Hindu devotee puts a vermillion mark on the forehead of his wife after bathing at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers on the first day of the 45-day-long Maha Kumbh Mela. Photo: AP

Hindu pilgrims line up to take a holy dip on the opening day of the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj, India. Photo: AFP

A line of police control the crowd as Hindu pilgrims arrive to take a holy dip during the Maha Kumbh Mela. The festival requires extensive crowd control with 400 million devotees expected over its six weeks. Photo: AFP

Women devotees pray as they take a holy dip. Photo: Reuters

A pilgrim splashes water over herself as she takes a holy dip. Photo: AFP

A Hindu pilgrim dries a sari after taking a holy dip. Photo: AFP

A Hindu devotee after taking a holy bath on the first day of the Maha Kumbh Mela. Photo: EPA-EFE

A Hindu pilgrim walks in front a mural of Hindu god Shiva after taking a holy dip in the sacred waters in Prayagraj. Photo: AFP

Devotees pray after taking a holy dip. Photo: Reuters

Devotees walk on a pontoon bridge as they leave after bathing on the opening day of the 45-day-long Maha Kumbh Mela. Photo: AP

Indian Hindus gather for Kumbh Mela, 400 million take a plunge for salvation

Members of Taponidhi Shri Anand Akhara Panchayati pray ahead of the royal bath near the Sangam, on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Hindu devotees take a ‘holy bath’ at Sangam, on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Children cook food outside their tent at a makeshift campsite ahead of Kumb Mela, on Saturday. Photo: AFP

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Judicial inquiry ordered into Maha Kumbh festival stampede that killed at least 30 people on Wednesday


Judicial inquiry ordered into Maha Kumbh festival stampede that killed at least 30 people on Wednesday.


Religion