60 sustain injuries as millions of pilgrims jostle for space
Mahakumbh Nagar: At least 30 people were killed and 60 injured in a pre-dawn stampede at the Sangam area of the Maha Kumbh early Wednesday as millions of pilgrims jostled for space to take a holy dip on the occasion of one of the most auspicious days of Mauni Amavasya.
Several hours after the incident took place between 1-2 am, Maha Kumbh DIG Vaibhav Krishna gave the details of the casualties at a press conference here in the evening.
“The incident took place due to the pressure of the crowd. The crowd broke barricades and jumped to the other side, crushing those waiting there. Over 90 injured were rushed to the hospital, of which 30 died,” he said.
The officer said 25 of the deceased have been identified. Four of them are from Karnataka and one each from Assam and Gujarat. Among those injured, 36 are undergoing treatment at the hospital and the rest have been sent with their families.
Over seven and half crore devotees took a dip Wednesday, officials said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to the devotees who lost their family members in the stampede, describing the tragedy as “extremely saddening”.
Later in the night, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced a three-member judicial commission, comprising Justice Harsh Kumar, former DG V K Gupta and retd IAS V K Singh to look into the reasons behind the stampede. He also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh each for the kin of the deceased.
“It is important to get to the bottom of the whole episode on how such a tragedy occurred,” a visibly-emotional Adityanath said, adding that the chief secretary and DGP would visit the Maha Kumbh on Thursday for an in-depth probe into the tragic incident.
DIG Krishna said barricades have been placed in the mela and akhara areas for lane management but they gave way under the pressure of the jostling.
As the barricades broke, people fell on those sitting and waiting for taking the holy dip during the ‘brahm muhurt’ (early morning time considered auspicious to perform certain activities), he said.
Many ordinary people, including women and children, fell down and were crushed. The officer said the government has issued strict directives there will be no VIP protocol in the mela now onwards.
According to eyewitness accounts, one of the reasons for the tragedy was the sudden surge of pilgrims at the Sangam – all driven by an obvious desire to take the holy dip at 3 am, the start of the auspicious hour.
After the stampede, ‘amrit snan’, the traditional bathing ritual of akharas, was deferred but it resumed in the afternoon. The bathing for devotees, however, continued at the tightly-packed Sangam and other ghats along the River Ganga which were less crowded.
Around 2 am, the blaring sirens of ambulances and police vehicles rushing to the Sangam pierced through the continuous chants of mantras and shlokas echoing from loudspeakers across the Kumbh Mela area. Those injured were taken to the central hospital set up in the Mela area. Relatives of many injured also reached there, as did some senior administrative and police officials.
Security personnel and rescue workers were seen carrying many of the injured on stretchers. People’s belongings, including blankets and bags, lay strewn around.
Sarojini, a devotee from Karnataka said, “We came in a batch of 60 people in two buses, we were nine people in the group. Suddenly there was pushing in the crowd, and we got trapped. A lot of us fell down and the crowd went uncontrolled.” “There was no chance for escape, there was pushing from all sides,” the woman told PTI Videos.
A man from Chhattarpur in Madhya Pradesh said his mother was injured and hospitalised, while a middle-aged couple from Meghalaya walked away from the crowd, both of them sobbing and narrating to reporters their harrowing experience of getting caught up in the ruckus.
Another woman at the hospital, whose child suffered injuries in the chaos, narrated her ordeal, claiming, “There was nowhere to go. Some people who pushed us were laughing while we begged them for kindness towards the children.”
In a post on X around noon, Modi said the local administration in Prayagraj is giving all possible help to the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.
Later addressing a poll rally in Delhi, he said, “We lost some good souls in the tragic incident at Kumbh and some people have also got hurt. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and pray for the early recovery of those injured.”
“I am in constant touch with the Uttar Pradesh government. Due to ‘Mauni Amavasya’, crores of devotees have reached there. For some time, the process of bathing had been halted, but now for several hours, the yatris are taking a bath. I once again convey my condolences to the families,” Modi said.
Adityanath said the incident took place between 1 am and 2 am when some devotees climbed over the barricades at akhara marg.
“Between 1 am to 2 am, at the akhara route where arrangements were made for the ‘amrit snan’ of the akharas, some devotees crossed over the barricades and were critically injured. They were immediately rushed to hospital where treatment was promptly ensured,” he said after a high-level meeting in Lucknow.
