Photo Courtesy: PTI
NEW DELHI: 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 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 before the latest incident in the early hours of the morning.
The six-week festival is the single biggest milestone on the Hindu religious calendar, and millions of people had been expected to participate in a sacred day of ritual bathing on Wednesday.
Rescue teams were seen working with pilgrims to carry victims away from the site of the accident over ground strewn with clothes, shoes and other discarded belongings.
Police officers moved through the area carrying stretchers bearing the bodies of victims draped with thick blankets.
Dozens of relatives were anxiously waiting for news outside a large tent serving as a purpose-built hospital for the festival around one kilometer from the accident.
But instead, officials were strolling the festival site with loudhailers urging pilgrims to keep away from the waterways.
Further Reading:
How India plans to keep 400 million pilgrims safe at the Maha Kumbh
