Authorities had expected a record 100 million people to throng the temporary township in Prayagraj on Wednesday and had deployed additional security and medical personnel along with AI-software-based technology to manage the crowd.
Distraught relatives queued up to identify those killed in the crush, which triggered calls for authorities and politicians to be held accountable.
Naga Sadhus or naked Hindu holy men, react as they take a holy dip in the Sangam.Credit: AP
Some witnesses spoke of a huge push that caused devotees to fall on each other, while others said the closure of routes to the water brought the dense crowd to a standstill and caused people to collapse due to suffocation.
“There was commotion; everybody started pushing, pulling, climbing over one another. My mother collapsed … then my sister-in-law. People ran over them,” said Jagwanti Devi, 40, as she sat in an ambulance with the bodies of her relatives.
Saroja, who had travelled for the festival from the southern city of Belagavi and gave only her first name, blamed police for the deaths of four members of her family.
“Police didn’t make proper arrangements. They are responsible for this,” she wailed.
Relatives of stampede victim mourn in an ambulance outside a morgue in Allahabad, India.Credit: Getty Images
The state government praised the police, saying their “swift and effective response … prevented a potential tragedy”.
“The police acted quickly to restore order and ensure the safety of the pilgrims, significantly minimising the situation’s impact,” it said in the first official statement from authorities.
An official at Prayagraj’s SRN Hospital, where some of the injured were taken, said those who died had either suffered heart attacks or had comorbidities like diabetes.
“People came in with fractures, broken bones … Some collapsed on the spot and were brought dead,” said the official, who did not want to be named.
Opposition parties blamed the crush on what they called the government’s “mismanagement” and “VIP culture”.
“VIP culture should be curbed, and the government should make better arrangements to meet the needs of common devotees,” Rahul Gandhi, leader of the main opposition Congress party, said on X, referring to politicians and celebrities being treated differently.
Some 400 million people are expected to attend the festival many call “the world’s biggest festival of humanity”.Credit: AP
The holy men walk in a procession ahead of their dip.Credit: AP
Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, where the festival city is located, said the stampede was set off when some devotees tried to jump barricades put up to manage crowds.
In the aftermath, some people sat on the ground crying, while others stepped over belongings left by those trying to escape the crush.
A Rapid Action Force (RAF) – a special police unit called in during crises – was deployed after the crush, with devotees entering the water first and ascetics beginning their processions only after devotee numbers reduced.
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Scores of ascetics, smeared in holy ash or wearing saffron, moved towards the confluence as security personnel and dense crowds of devotees looked on and helicopters showered petals from above.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to “devotees who have lost their loved ones”.
A similar crush on the most auspicious day of the festival, when it was last held in 2013, killed at least 36 pilgrims.
Reuters
