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Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 29: At least 30 people were killed and over 60 injured in a stampede at the Triveni Sangam area of the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj in the wee hours of Wednesday as crores of pilgrims jostled for space to take a holy dip on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya, the police chief that oversees security at the massive religious gathering told reporters today.
Twenty-five bodies have been identified, police officer Vaibhav Krishna told reporters, adding 60 were injured. Many have been hospitalised. The announcement of casualties came hours after local reports and Prayagraj residents posted on social media about deaths at the stampede. The reports were, however, not consistent with the number of dead.
The pre-dawn stampede at the Sangam area of the Maha Kumbh broke out after many pilgrims jostled for space to take a holy dip on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya, one of the most auspicious days. Many people started breaking barricades before the stampede happened, the police officer said.
Sarojini, a Karnataka resident who came to take a dip in the Maha Kumbh, said, “We came in a batch of 60 people in two buses. There were nine people in our group. Suddenly there was pushing in the crowd, and we got trapped. Many fell down and the crowd became uncontrollable.”
A woman at a local hospital, whose child was injured, said there was nowhere to go when people started pushing in the massive crowd. “Some people who pushed us were laughing while we begged them for kindness towards the children,” she said.
Mr Krishna, the Deputy Inspector in General (DIG) of Maha Kumbh, said the situation is under control.
President of the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, Mahant Ravindra Puri, who was headed towards the Triveni Sangam for the amrit snan said thousands of saints and Naga sadhus were coming with him. “We are going for the amrit snan… We will vacate the ghats very quickly so that all the devotees who have come here are able to take a holy dip.”
Digambar Naga Baba Chidanand Puri of Panchayati Niranjani Akhara said after taking amrit snan that after the incident, people from the Niranjani Akhara are coming in small numbers to take the holy dip.
Intially the Uttar Pradesh government remained tight-lipped about the number of casualties, but a Karnataka family had complained of at least two deaths in the family. Their family members could not trace them since morning on Wednesday as the mobile network in Prayagraj was down. Later, another resident of Belagavi, who had accompanied them, called to inform that they were dead.
President Droupadi Murmu, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and many Union Ministers, several Chief Ministers and Opposition leaders across parties offered their condolences to the victims and their families.
The incident prompted the Akharas to defer the holy dip. Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended condolences to “devotees who have lost their loved ones,” while assuring that the local administration was helping out the affected.
As crores of devotees streamed into the tent city in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj ahead of the ‘Amrit Snan’, barricades about a kilometre away from the ‘Sangam’ broke leading to some women fainting. As the unconscious women fell, the stampede began. They were then rushed to a hospital within the Maha Kumbh fair grounds. Further, some seriously injured women were sent to Bailey Hospital and Swaroop Rani Medical College or treatment.
The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in a statement regarding the incident said the local administration in Prayagraj was giving all possible help to the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured. He said the incident took place between 1 am and 2 am when some devotees climbed over the barricades at Akhara marg. “Between 1 am to 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 hospital where treatment was promptly ensured,” he said after a high-level meeting in Lucknow.
Yogi Adityanath said some devotees were “seriously injured.” Security personnel and rescue workers were seen carrying many of the injured on stretchers. People’s belongings, including blankets and bags, lay strewn around. 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 established in the Mela area. Relatives of many injured also reached there, as did some senior administrative and police officials.
The Chief Minister said the situation was under control, but the crowd pressure remained. He urged devotees to take a dip at the nearest ghat and not make way for the Sangam Nose. “The elderly, children and asthma patients need to be extremely cautious and bathe at ghats nearest to them. All are Ganga ghats and all would get the same ‘punya’ (divine blessings) as it is Mauni Amavasya,” he said.
DIG Maha Kumbh, Vaibhav Krishna said everything was peaceful and the situation was under control. “Since there were a lot of devotees, the Akharas proposed to us that they would delay their Amrit Snan. This was a huge support from the Akharas to the administration. The injured in the stampede are undergoing treatment. No one is serious, everyone is out of danger.”
Wednesday marked Mauni Amavasya, one of the most significant days of the Maha Kumbh Mela festival, when followers come to bathe in the Triveni Sangam, the confluence of three holy rivers – the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati – to purify their sins and take another step closer to “spiritual liberation.”
A day ahead of the second Amrit Snan, nearly five crore people had already reached Prayagraj, while crowds were pegged to swell to 10 crores later in the day. Authorities implemented stringent security measures, managing massive crowds with AI-powered surveillance, drone monitoring, and increased police presence. While the Mela area has already been declared a no-vehicle zone for the next few days, the Prayagraj administration has also made a fervent appeal to local residents to avoid using four wheelers and opt for two wheelers only if carrying senior citizens to the Sangam.
Drone footage showed huge numbers of people arriving at the site in the early hours. Crowd crushes at religious gatherings are not uncommon, and deadly incidents have occurred in the past, often highlighting a lack of adequate crowd control and safety measures. In 2013, dozens of people were killed and injured in a crowd crush at a railway station in Allahabad as pilgrims gathered for that year’s Kumbh Mela.
The ‘amrit snan,’ the traditional bathing ritual of akharas that was deferred due to the stampede, resumed at 2.30 p.m. The procession, notably less grand than usual, was led by Mahant Ravindra Puri, head of the Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad.
Mahant Ravindra Puri said seers had called off their Mauni Amavasya’s Amrit Snan. “You would’ve seen what happened in the morning, and that’s why we have decided to… All of our saints and seers were ready for the ‘snan’ when we were informed about this incident. That’s why we have decided to call off our ‘snan’ on ‘Mauni Amavasya’,” he said. Akhada Parishad General Secretary and Juna Akhara Patron Mahant Hari Giri too appealed to devotees to take a bath in the Ganga river wherever they are and return home.
The Aam Aadmi Party blamed administrative mismanagement for the stampede, calling for an end to VIP culture and stricter crowd management. AAP leader Sanjay Singh described the scenes as “scary.” Referring to videos circulating on social media, Singh said, “I saw a woman desperately trying to give oxygen from her mouth to her family member to save him. This is heartbreaking.” He also pointed out that Mahamandaleshwar Premanand Puri Ji had urged authorities to hand over the event’s arrangements to the army, but his request was rejected.
“We never wanted to comment on this, but the reality is clear – VIP culture is the main problem. Roads are being closed for VIP movement, causing chaos for the devotees,” he alleged. According to Singh, the administration only arrived at the scene at 1 a.m. and started forcing people to take a holy dip (snan), which led to panic. “This created a stampede-like situation. My heart goes out to those affected. I appeal to the Chief Minister to immediately stop all VIP movements at the Maha Kumbh,” he added.
Vehicles carrying thousands of devotees to Maha Kumbh were stuck on the border between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh due to huge crowd in Prayagraj, officials said. Food and accommodation arrangements were made for the devotees stranded in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said in a post on X.
Police and State officials were present at the spot, taking care of proper arrangements of the food and accommodation for all devotees there, the CM said. “Along with this, a team of doctors has also been made available at the spot for health-related needs,” he said. He also appealed to the devotees to maintain patience and follow the administration’s guidelines.
Following the incident of stampede at Maha Kumbh, authorities are on alert in Rae Bareli and neighbouring districts of Prayagraj, with traffic moving towards Prayagraj partially stopped. The administration barricaded various places including Bachhrawan, Unchahar and stopped four-wheeler vehicles going to Prayagraj. Visitors are told that traffic will be restored after the crowd in Prayagraj subsides. Many devotees from Nepal, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana were stopped in Rae Bareli, with administration providing necessary facilities for the passengers.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) sought to know who was responsible for the stampede at the Maha Kumbh and claimed that closure of certain parts of the riverbank for visits by Ministers leads to such situations. A day should be reserved for visits by VIPs, said the party’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut, adding that more than ₹10,000 crore has been spent for the management of Maha Kumbh at Prayagraj.
“Where did the money go? The BJP has been doing political campaigning through the Kumbh. It wants to market the Kumbh and contest polls. This is not their faith but politics, and people lose their lives,” Raut said, adding that the deaths in the early morning stampede were a “murder by the state administration.”
“I am deeply saddened by the tragic accident that took place at Prayagraj Maha Kumbh. I express my condolences to the bereaved families of the devotees who lost their loved ones in the accident and wish for the speedy recovery of the injured. May God give strength to the bereaved family in this hour of grief,” Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar said.
Ahead of starting an election rally in Delhi, Mr Modi spoke on the stampede at the Maha Kumbh and said we lost a few people and some were injured too. “I want to pay my respects to the people who lost their family and hope that the injured get well soon. I have been in touch with the UP Government to monitor the situation closely. There was a brief pause in the rituals of the day but now they have restarted it. I again want to pay my respects to families of the people we lost,” he said.
“I am deeply saddened by the tragic accident that took place at Maha Kumbh. I express my condolences to those who have lost their loved ones in this accident. May God give them the strength to bear this sorrow. The administration is treating the injured in hospitals. I am in constant touch with the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and the local administration.” The Union Home Minister Amit Shah said.
Over 36 million people have taken the holy dip on Mauni Amavasya till 10 AM as per official figures of U.P. government. “Total snan today until 10 AM is over 3.61 crores,” reads an official statement. The figures of persons performing the holy dip has crossed 200 million since the start of Maha Kumbh.
Ahead of the festival in Prayagraj, officials said extra safety measures have been put in place to protect visitors, including a security ring with checkpoints around the city staffed by more than 1,000 police officers. The central government said over 2,700 security cameras powered by artificial intelligence were also positioned around the city, monitored by hundreds of experts at key locations.