The Kumbh Mela attracts tens of millions of Hindu faithful every 12 years to the northern city of Prayagraj, and has a history of crowd-related disasters -- including one last month, when at least 30 people died in another stampede at the holy confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
“I can confirm 15 deaths at the hospital. They don’t have any open injury. Most (likely died from) hypoxia or maybe some blunt injury but that would only be confirmed after an autopsy,“ Dr Ritu Saxena, deputy medical superintendent of Lok Nayak Hospital in New Delhi told AFP.
Broadcaster NDTV reported three more dead from the stampede quoting an official of another hospital in the city.
“I have been working as a coolie since 1981, but I never saw a crowd like this before,“ the Times of India newspaper quoted a porter at the railway station as saying.
Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said a “high-level inquiry” had been ordered into the causes of the accident.
Vaishnaw said additional special trains were being run from New Delhi to clear the rush of devotees.
“We are operating an unprecedented and record number of special trains for the ease of passengers,“ railways official Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay told reporters. “We are doing our best.”
“They are worried about their image at the cost of the faith of crores of people who are visiting Maha Kumbh... There is no arrangement,“ opposition Congress party leader Pawan Khera told ANI news agency.
“My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that the injured have a speedy recovery,“ Modi wrote on X.
The six-week Kumbh Mela is the single biggest milestone on the Hindu religious calendar, and officials said around 500 million devotees have already visited the festival since it began last month.
Another 36 people were crushed to death in 2013, the last time the full festival was staged in Prayagraj.
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