Maha Kumbh Stampede: Crores Of devotees reached Maha Kumbh Mela to take a dip on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya, the second Amrit Snan date, but a stampede occurred near ‘Sangam’ at 1 am and around 10 people were feared dead.

People present at the spot have different accounts of how the chaos began. One pilgrim said policemen started waking up the people lying on the Sangam in a hurry to prepare for the royal bath, due to which the rumour of a stampede spread and the accident happened, while some said that pilgrims fainted due to a huge crowd leading to the situation. 

Some pilgrims have alleged that people were being stopped from going to the Sangam bank but the crowd was adamant to take a holy dip at Sangam itself.

Clothes, Bags, Shoes Scattered After Stampede

Visuals from Sangam right after the accident showed the clothes, bags, shoes and slippers of the devotees lying scattered.

A woman from Karnataka told PTI that she came to the mela 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,” Sarojini said.

“There was no chance for escape, there was pushing from all sides,” the woman added.

A man from Chhattarpur in Madhya Pradesh said his mother was injured and hospitalised, while a middle-aged married couple from Meghalaya walked away from the crowd, both of them sobbing and narrating their harrowing experience of getting caught up in the ruckus.

There Was Nowhere To Go: Pilgrim

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.” The incident occurred around 2 pm on Wednesday, amid a sea of tightly-packed crowds converging at the Sangam and all other ghats created along a 12-km long range of river banks for the Maha Kumbh.

While ordinary devotees continued their holy bath after the incident, the Akharas (monastic orders) called off their traditional Amrit Snan for Mauni Amavasya.

The Mela authorities on Tuesday issued an advisory urging devotees to follow crowd-management guidelines for safety and convenience.

Pilgrims were asked to use designated lanes to reach Sangam Ghat and stay in their lanes while approaching the bathing area. They were further advised to avoid lingering at ghats after the holy dip and proceed promptly to parking areas or their destinations to ensure smooth movement.