Prayagraj, India (Reuters)-Almost 40 bodies were taken to the morgue of a hospital after rioting at Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India on Wednesday, three police sources told Reuters after dozens of millions gathered to get together to Bath in the sacred waters of the river on the most auspicious day of a six -week festival.
The bodies were still being taken to the morgue of the local Hospital Mota Lal Nehru Medical College more than 12 hours after the tragedy, although the government has not yet officially announced the number of victims.
“More bodies are coming. We have almost 40 bodies here. We are also transferring them and delivering families one by one, ”said one of the sources.
Senior police officer Vaibhav Krishna, when contacted to comment, said police could not give official numbers because he was busy with the control of the crowd.
The confusion occurred between 1 am and 2 am near the Asna Arena, where barricades were placed to control the crowds during the sacred dive, said Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the city of the festival is located, Prayagraj .
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an X post, offered condolences to the “devotees who lost their loved ones,” but did not specify the number of dead.
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“Local administration is committed to helping victims in every way possible,” he said.
Adityanath added that the situation was under control, but the crowd was still huge.
Videos and photographs after the confusion showed bodies being taken on stretchers and people sitting on the floor crying, while others stepped on clothes, shoes, backpacks and blankets left by those who tried to escape.
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A Reuters witness saw bodies as he followed dozens of ambulances that ran toward the river where the incident occurred.
Witnesses spoke of a huge push near the confluence of three sacred rivers – where a dive is considered particularly sacred – that caused the devotees to fall on each other. Chief Minister Adityanath asked people to avoid the area.
“We had barricades in front of us and police with cassettes on the other side. The push from behind was very strong… People started to fall, ”said Vijay Kumar, who went from the city of Patna, in the east of the country, for the festival.
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“There were people fallen everywhere, I don’t know if they were alive or dead.”
The Hindu Festival is the largest congregation of humanity, attracting about 400 million people in its six weeks, compared to the haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, which attracted 1.8 million last year. Until Tuesday, about 200 million people participated in the 2025 festival since its beginning two weeks ago.
Devotes Hindus believe that taking a dip in the confluence of three sacred rivers – Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical and invisible Saraswati – acquit the people of sins and, during Kumbh, also brings the salvation of the life and death cycle.
