Thirty devotees died and 60 were injured following a stampede in the early hours of Wednesday morning on the Akhara Marg, close to the Triveni Sangam Ghat at the Mahakumbh Mela in Prayagraj, according to the government.
Of the dead, 25 have been identified, and the administration is in the process of establishing the identity of the remaining 5, said Vaibhav Krishna, Deputy Inspector General of Uttar Pradesh Police, in charge of the Kumbh Mela, at a press conference within the Mela compound on Wednesday.
Some of them are from outside UP — like four from Karnataka and one each from Assam and Gujarat, the DIG informed. Thirty-six injured are being treated at hospitals in Prayagraj while the families took away the rest, Krishna pointed out hours after the tragedy struck between 1 am and 2 am early on Wednesday morning.
Elaborating on the tragic incident, the DIG told reporters that the Mauni Amavasya’s amrit snan was scheduled for Wednesday.
“During the brahma muhurat (auspicious time)‘ which was from 1 am to 2 am early morning, a large crowd gathered at Akhara Marg. Because of the pressure created by this crowd swell, the barricades were broken and the people unknowingly trampled on devotees lying on the ground waiting to take bath at brahma muhurat. Though the administration immediately swung into action and created a corridor for rescue and rushed 90 people to hospital through ambulances, 30 among them died unfortunately,” Krishna briefed reporters inside the Mela.
He also said that on Wednesday, the administration made it clear to the field formations of police and Central Police Forces that no request for VIP arrangements would be entertained for Mauni Amavasya and also on the upcoming auspicious day of Basant Panchami on February 2.
- Read: Prayagraj Stampede: Crowd management concerns have persisted since the first post-independence Kumbh
Krishna also said that the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, reached out to saints, mahamandaleshwar, akharas and shankaracharyas, urging them to delay their amrit snan on Mauni Amavasya in the interest of devotees and visitors.
A consensus was reached, and the traditional bathing ritual of akharas was deferred. The procession — led by Mahant Ravindra Puri, head of the Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad — began around 2:30 pm with less fanfare than previous years. The akharas, saints and shankaracharyas walked towards the Sangam for amrit snan, said Mahant Ravindra Puri.
Government’s response
The administration also created helpline number 1920 to help people find out about missing devotees, if any.
On January 28, the problem began with the UP administration blocking over two dozen pontoon bridges connecting 25 sectors of the temporary Mahakumbh Mela tent city, spread across 4,000 hectares on the banks of Sangam — a confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswati rivers —in Prayagraj.
This was done to control the large crowd, expected to be in the range of 10 crore, ahead of amrit snan on Mauni Amavasya. But the local administration allowed VVIPs to zip across in vehicles with hooters for bathing at Sangam ghat, while devotees on foot were barred from entering that area and were diverted for holy dips at ghats on Ganga, which is about three km away, a visitor who had also queued up for holy snan said.
Only a handful, probably one or two, of pontoon bridges were open until noon to allow a sea of people take a holy dip in the rivers to move.
Towards the evening, loudspeakers announced that the Mauni Amavasya muhurat had begun, prompting even more devotees to move toward Sangam. However, they were stopped at different barricades ahead of pontoon bridges.
This angered the frustrated devotees who got into heated arguments with police and other local administration officials throughout Tuesday over discriminatory behaviour, as they were stopped at different barricades from moving ahead, he pointed out.
For hours, the tussle between the administration and people continued. Finally, the crowd pushed the barricades to cross over, accidentally trampling over people lying on the ground, leading to tragic deaths, he concluded.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Yogi Adityanath several times after the incident to review the situation and offer Central assistance to manage the crowd. Other top Central ministers, like the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who had taken a dip at the Sangam earlier, also dialled Yogi to learn first-hand about the situation on ground.
PM offers condolences
Expressing his condolences over the stampede, PM Modi wrote on X: “The accident at Prayagraj Maha Kumbh is extremely painful. My deepest condolences to the devotees who have lost their loved ones in this. I wish for the speedy recovery of all the injured. The local administration is engaged in providing all possible help to the victims. In this regard, I have spoken to Chief Minister Yogi Ji and I am constantly in touch with the state government.”
“Around 8-10 crore devotees are present in Prayagraj today. There is continuous pressure due to the movement of devotees towards the Sangam Nose. A few devotees have suffered serious injuries when they tried to cross the barricades on Akhara Marg. The injured have been shifted to hospitals for medical treatment,” the CM said in his first reaction early in the day.
Yogi Adityanath appealed to people not to move towards Sangam Nose and instead to bathe at the Ganga Ghats. He also cautioned people not to take rumours about the incidents seriously.