Witnesses say crowd swelled as routes to ghats were shut, many jumped barricades
The pre-dawn stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela occurred near the arena for ascetics on the Akhara Marg, which is used by the ascetics to go in a procession to the river.
Cops regulating Entry into city
- Additional security, including a special police unit trained to manage crisis situations, has been deployed
- The police are also regulating entry into the city to control the crowd
- The authorities also streamlined the rituals on Wednesday, facilitating dips for devotees first, with ascetics taking out their processions on a smaller scale than planned
The stampede occurred when several devotees tried to jump the barricades put up to manage the crowds during the ascetics’ holy dip, officials said. Some witnesses spoke of routes to the water being closed, bringing the large crowd to a standstill. This resulted in some people collapsing due to suffocation, while others began pushing, pulling, and climbing over them in an effort to escape.
Others spoke of a huge push from the back that left them wedged between barricades on the one side and police personnel wielding batons on the other. An official at a hospital where some of the injured were rushed said several victims had fractures and broken bones, and some of those who died had suffered heart attacks. The situation was eventually brought under control, but the crowd remained “massive”, said the officials. A large number of people had begun descending upon Prayagraj on Tuesday evening, while over 5.7 crore had taken a dip by 4 pm on Wednesday alone.