Officials said on Wednesday that dozens of people are in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh festival of India, as thousands of people left for a religious gathering to offer their prayers by Riverbank of Northern City, Shremaraj.
The news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted an officer on duty, Akanaksha Rana as saying, “Some people have been injured and BU has been admitted to the hospital after a barrier at the confluence. Till the time those injured are counting, the news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Akanaksha Rana, an officer on duty, saying.
Report about those killed in the crowd
The AFPs eat separate deaths with the news agency, stating that at least 15 people were killed after crushing the crowd and Reuters reported that more than seven were killed.
Members of rude families in videos and photos were waiting outside the hospital, and clothes and bags and jackets are scattered on the ground on the site of chaotic crush.
Millions of pilgrims visit the site to wash their sins
The Kumbh Mela is the largest gathering of humanity in the world – where family, devotees and elderly pilgrims gather once every 12 years at the meeting point of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythological Saraswati of the rivers.
Millions of people bathe in riverweightrs as they believe that the ritual removes their sins and frees them from the cycle of rebirth.
This year’s festival – a prefix ‘Maha’ meaning ‘great’ – is considered one of the particular indications with astrologers, saying that the alignment of stars has not been discovered in 144 years.
The organizers hope that more than 400 million people, more than the US population, will land on the Prayagraj City from 13 January to 26 February.
The auspicious day of the festival sees the great influx of devotees
While the festival of this year is celebrated in an interval of 45 days, on Wednesday, the occasion of ‘Muni Amavasya’ is marked, which is the last new moon before the festival of Mahashivratri.
The authorities were expected to be the most crowded day of the festival on Wednesday as devotees believe that there is a unique opportunity to be blessed by the ancestors diverted into the holy rivers on this day.
The Uttar Pradesh state government had expected about 100 million devotees to visit the site, the authorities in a press briefing in January.
Social media videos showed a sea of people gathered in the early hours of Wednesday, which was waiting for the turn to bathe in the river water.
Meanwhile, local media outlets reported that bathing in water was temporarily suspended due to the incident.
MK/RM (AP, Reuters)
