At least seven people were killed and around 10 injured in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India on Wednesday, said an official, as tens of millions gathered to take a holy dip on the most auspicious day of the six-week Hindu festival.The stampede occurred between 1 am and 2 am in an area where barricades had been put up to manage crowds during their holy dip, said Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state where the festival city of Prayagraj is located, Reuters reported.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a post on X, offered condolences to &devotees who have lost their loves ones&, but did not specify the number of dead.&The local administration is engaged in helping the victims in every possible way&, he said.Adityanath added that the situation was under control but the crowd was still massive.A Reuters witness saw several dead bodies as he followed dozens of ambulances rushing towards the river bank where the incident occurred.A woman who was part of the crowd but did not give her name told news agency ANI that people &kept stepping& on her mother and her when they fell.&I am safe but my mother has died,& she said.The Hindu festival is the world'slargest congregation of humanity, attracting some 400 million over its six weeks.
By Tuesday nearly 200 million people had attended the 2025 festival since it started two weeks ago.A similar stampede had broken out on the most auspicious day of the festival when it was last held in 2013, killing at least 36 pilgrims, mostly women.The post At least seven killed in stampede at Indian festival first appeared on Ariana News.