Chaos at religious festival in India kills at least seven people.

Reuters - At least seven people died and about 10 were injured in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India on Wednesday (29), an official said, as tens of millions of people gathered to take a sacred dip on the most auspicious day of the six-week Hindu festival.

The stampede occurred near the ascetics' arena, where barricades had been erected to control the crowd during the sacred dip, said Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the festival city is located. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a post on X, offered condolences to "devotees who lost their loved ones," but did not specify the number of dead.

"The local administration is committed to helping the victims in every way possible," he said.

Adityanath added that the situation was under control, but the crowd was still enormous.

A senior state official said that "more than seven people were killed in the stampede and about 10 others were injured." The official declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Videos and photos taken after the stampede showed bodies being carried away on stretchers and people sitting on the ground crying, while others trampled on clothes, shoes, backpacks, and blankets left behind by those trying to escape the crowd.

A Reuters witness saw several corpses while following dozens of ambulances rushing towards the riverbank where the incident occurred.

Witnesses spoke of a powerful jolt near the confluence of three sacred rivers – where a plunge is considered particularly sacred – that caused devotees to fall on top of each other. Chief Minister Adityanath urged people to avoid the area.

Opposition parties blame "mismanagement"

The Hindu festival is the world's largest gathering, attracting around 400 million people over its six weeks, compared to the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, which drew 1,8 million last year. As of Tuesday, nearly 200 million people had attended the 2025 festival since it began two weeks ago.

Devout Hindus believe that immersing oneself in the confluence of three sacred rivers — the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the mythical and unseen Saraswati — absolves people of sins and, during Kumbh, also brings salvation from the cycle of life and death.

More than 36 million people took the sacred dip on Wednesday up to 10 a.m. (local time), officials said.

Participants ranged from Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah to the Chairman of the Adani Group, Gautam Adani, and celebrities such as Chris Martin of Coldplay and actress Dakota Johnson, who, according to local media, arrived in Prayagraj on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit the festival next month.

Authorities had expected a record 100 million people to crowd into the temporary municipality of Prayagraj on Wednesday and mobilized additional medical and security teams, as well as AI software-based technology to control the crowd.

A Rapid Action Force (RAF) — a special police unit called in during a crisis — was mobilized to control the situation, and rescue efforts were underway, officials said.

Opposition parties criticized the federal and state governments, attributing the exodus to what they called "mismanagement" and a "VIP culture."