Millions of devout Hindus thronged the northern Indian city of Prayagraj yesterday for the Maha Kumbh festival, a day after dozens died in a stampede at the largest gathering of humanity in the world.
Train and bus stations in the city saw a surge in crowds as people continued to arrive for the festival, although some devotees remained nervous after the deadly crush.
Police said 30 people were killed in Wednesday’s stampede and 60 were injured. Sources said the death toll was more than 50 and Reuters counted at least 39 bodies in the morgue, but police said not all may have been killed in the stampede.
“Many people die here everyday due to various reasons so those extra dead bodies could have been from other cases... The injured are totally out of danger,” senior police officer Vaibhav Krishna told Reuters.
While authorities said there was just one stampede on Wednesday, witnesses said there had also been a second pre-dawn incident in another part of the festival area on the same morning.
Authorities have ordered a probe into the incident, which occurred when people surged towards the confluence of three sacred rivers – Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati believed to flow underground – to take a dip.
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