15 dead in India’s Kumbh Mela festival stampede
PRAYAGRAJ—A stampede at the world’s largest religious gathering in India killed at least 15 people with many more injured, a doctor at the Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj told AFP Wednesday.
Deadly crowd crushes are a notorious feature of Indian religious festivals and the Kumbh Mela, with its unfathomable throngs of devotees, already had a grim track record of deadly crowd crushes before the latest incident overnight.
The six-week festival is the single biggest milestone on the Hindu religious calendar, and millions of people were expected to be present on Wednesday for a sacred day of ritual bathing at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.
“At least 15 people have died for now. Others are being treated,” said the doctor in Prayagraj city.
Local government official Akanksha Rana said that the stampede began after crowd control barriers “broke.”
