At least seven people were killed and about 10 were injured in a riot at Maha Kumbh Mela, northern India, on Wednesday, a authority said, while tens of millions gathered to get a sacred dive on the day most auspicious of the six -week Hindu festival.
The disorder occurred between 1h and 2h (local time) near the Action Arena, where barricades were placed to control the crowd during the sacred dive, said Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the city of the Prayagraj Festival It is located.
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.
“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.
A high state official said that “more than seven people were killed and about 10 others were injured.” The employee did not want to be identified as he was not allowed to talk to the media.
Videos and photographs 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 trying to escape the crowd.
A Reuters witness saw several bodies as he followed dozens of ambulances running towards the river bank where the incident occurred.
Witnesses spoke of a great 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 officers with cassettes on the other side. The push from behind was very strong… People started to fall, ”said Vijay Kumar, who came to the Eastern Patna city festival.
“There were people fallen everywhere, I don’t know if they were alive or dead.”
A woman who was part of the crowd but did not give her name, told the news agency Ani that people “kept stepping” on her mother and in her when they fell.
“I’m safe, but my mother died,” she said.
The festival
Kumbh Mela is the world’s largest congregation, attracting about 400 million people over its six weeks compared to Hajj’s pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, which attracted 1.8 million last year.
Until Tuesday, almost 200 million people have attended the 2025 festival since it started two weeks ago.
Devotes Hindus believe that taking a dip in the confluence of three sacred rivers – the ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical and invisible Saraswati – acquits the people of sins and, during Kumbh, also brings the salvation of the life and death cycle.
More than 36 million people took a sacred dive at 10 am on Wednesday, officials.
Participants range from Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Interior Minister Amit Shah to Adani Group President Gautam Adani and celebrities such as Chris Martin of Coldplay and actress Dakota Johnson, who reported the local media that arrived in Prayagoj on Tuesday ( 28).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi should visit the festival next month.
Authorities hoped that a record of 100 million people will fill the temporary municipality in Prayagraj on Wednesday, and mobilized additional and medical security with AI software-based technology to control the crowd.
The Rapid Action Force (RAF) – a special police unit called during the crisis – was mobilized to control the situation and rescue efforts were underway, authorities said.
Opposition parties blame “mismanagement”
The opposition parties criticized the federal and state governments and blamed the turmoil in what they called “mismanagement” and “VIP culture”.
“VIP culture must be contained and the government must make better arrangements to meet the needs of the common devotees,” said Rahul Gandhi, leader of the main opposition party, Congress in the X, referring to politicians and celebrities being treated of different form.
A similar turmoil occurred on the most auspicious day of the festival when it was last held in 2013, killing at least 36 pilgrims, most women.
This content was originally published in a tumult at a religious festival leaves dead and injured in India on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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