30 dead, 60 injured in Mahakumbh stampede

MAHAKUMBH NAGAR At least 30 people were killed and around 60 injured in a stampede that broke out due to the rush for the third Amrit Snan of the Mahakumbh on Mauni Amavasya when devotees gathered to take a pre-dawn holy dip at the Sangam nose in the wee hours of Wednesday.

“Before Brahma Mahurat, between 1am and 2am, a huge crowd gathered on the Akhada Marg. Due to this, the barricades on the other side broke and the crowd ran over devotees waiting to take a holy dip on the other side. About 90 people were taken to the hospital through ambulances but unfortunately, 30 devotees died…” informed DIG (Mahakumbh Nagar) Vaibhav Krishna in a presser.

Twenty-five bodies had been identified and the rest were yet to be identified, he added.

Some of the deceased were from other states, including four from Karnataka, one from Assam and one from Gujarat.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences over the incident and prayed for the early recovery of those injured. “The accident that happened in Prayagraj Mahakumbh is extremely sad. My deepest condolences to the devotees who have lost their loved ones in this,” he posted on X.

“Along with this, I wish for the speedy recovery of all the injured. The local administration is engaged in helping the victims in every possible way. In this regard, I have spoken to chief minister Yogi ji and I am constantly in touch with the state government,” added the PM.

“Everything is peaceful and the situation is under control…Since there were a lot of devotees, the Akhadas proposed to us that they would delay their Amrit Snan,” the DIG said.

The faithful started converging on the Sangam nose since 7.35pm on Tuesday, when the mahurat for Mauni Amavasya began. The crowd build-up at the Sangam nose turned into a sea of humanity by 2am on Wednesday.

Everything was going on as planned till around 2am, when the Sangam nose was almost packed with pilgrims with virtually no space for the exit for those who had taken the holy dip.

Stampede took place when religious fervour was at its peak between 2am-2.30am and an unprecedented crowd turned up at the Sangam nose, making it unmanageable for the Mela administration. Ambulances were rushed to ferry the injured and deceased to the Central Hospital at Mahakumbh Nagar. Those critically injured were referred to the Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital.

To ease the crowd pressure, the administration sent back pilgrims from the river bed without taking the holy dip. The Akhara route was opened for people to return from the Sangam bed.

In a bid to control the situation, district magistrate (Mahakumbh Nagar) Vijay Kiran Anand made regular announcements from the public address system requesting pilgrims not to reach the Sangam, and instead, bathe at any ghat at Mahakumbh Nagar.

WHAT WENT WRONG?

Mahakumbh Nagar, spread across 4,000 hectares, has 48 bathing ghats on a 12-km stretch, but pilgrims were adamant on taking the holy dip at the Sangam nose, leading to excessive overcrowding, said locals.

They said the Mela administration and religious leaders should have issued regular appeals to people weeks before Mauni Amavasya, requesting them to take holy dip in the Ganga at their nearest destinations.

The administration should also have displayed the list of all ghats prominently all over the city urging people to bathe at their nearest ghat. This could have prevented overcrowding at Sangam nose, they added.

The crowd build-up for Mauni Amavasya had begun since January 26, but the authorities apparently failed to assess the overcrowding in Prayagraj and Mahakumbh Nagar.

To ease the crowd pressure in Prayagraj, people from adjoining districts should have been stopped/dissuaded from coming to Sangam City. A large number of people who came to Prayagraj in the last three days opted to stay back in the city for Mauni Amavasya, informed locals.

Too many barricades and diversions were put in place across Prayagraj and Mahakumbh Nagar to restrict the movement of pilgrims. The road leading to Sangam nose was also heavily barricaded. Due to overcrowding at the Sangam nose, the exit route for those who had taken the holy dip failed.

Appeals issued by the state government to people, requesting them to bathe at their nearest ghats, instead of coming to the Sangam nose, did not have much impact.

Besides, too much VIP movement in Mahakumbh till the last day overburdened the Mela administration. Pontoon bridges were closed at regular intervals during VVIP visits to restrict movement of people from one sector to another.