Dozens killed in crush at world’s biggest ‘festival of humanity’ despite AI-crowd controller

January 30, 2025 journo

By Saurabh Sharma and Shivam Patel

Updated January 30, 2025 — 10.21am

Prayagraj, India: Dozens of people have been killed in a pre-dawn crowd crush at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India as tens of millions of Hindus gathered to take a dip in sacred river waters on the most auspicious day of a six-week festival.

Two police sources said at least 39 had been killed in the crush at the world’s biggest gathering of humanity after crowds surged towards the confluence of rivers where immersion is considered especially sacred.

Naga Sadhus or naked Hindu holy men, gather to take a holy dip on Mauni Amavasya or “new moon day”, during the Maha Kumbh festival.Credit: AP

“More bodies are coming in. We have nearly 40 bodies here. We are transferring them out as well and handing [them] over to families one by one,” one of the sources said at the Moti Lal Nehru Medical College hospital.

Senior police officer Vaibhav Krishna told reporters that 90 people were taken to the hospital after the crush on Wednesday.

The 45-day Hindu festival is expected to draw some 400 million people overall, according to officials, compared with the Haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, which drew 1.8 million last year.

By Tuesday, nearly 200 million had attended since it started two weeks ago, officials said, adding that more than 57 million people had taken a holy dip by 4pm on Wednesday.

Devout Hindus believe bathing at the confluence of three sacred rivers – the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the mythical, invisible Saraswati – absolves people of sins and, during the Kumbh, also brings salvation from the cycle of life and death.

Devotees from foreign countries gather to watch Indian Naga Sadhus, or naked Hindu holy men, participate in a procession towards the water.Credit: AP

Attendees this year ranged from Modi government ministers to Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani and celebrities like Coldplay’s Chris Martin and his girlfriend, actor Dakota Johnson, who local media spotted arriving in Prayagraj on Tuesday.

Authorities had expected a record 100 million people to throng the temporary township in Prayagraj on Wednesday and had deployed additional security and medical personnel along with AI-software-based technology to manage the crowd.

Distraught relatives queued up to identify those killed in the crush, which triggered calls for authorities and politicians to be held accountable.

Naga Sadhus or naked Hindu holy men, react as they take a holy dip in the Sangam.Credit: AP

Some witnesses spoke of a huge push that caused devotees to fall on each other, while others said the closure of routes to the water brought the dense crowd to a standstill and caused people to collapse due to suffocation.

“There was commotion; everybody started pushing, pulling, climbing over one another. My mother collapsed … then my sister-in-law. People ran over them,” said Jagwanti Devi, 40, as she sat in an ambulance with the bodies of her relatives.

Saroja, who had travelled for the festival from the southern city of Belagavi and gave only her first name, blamed police for the deaths of four members of her family.

“Police didn’t make proper arrangements. They are responsible for this,” she wailed.

Relatives of stampede victim mourn in an ambulance outside a morgue in Allahabad, India.Credit: Getty Images

The state government praised the police, saying their “swift and effective response … prevented a potential tragedy”.

“The police acted quickly to restore order and ensure the safety of the pilgrims, significantly minimising the situation’s impact,” it said in the first official statement from authorities.

An official at Prayagraj’s SRN Hospital, where some of the injured were taken, said those who died had either suffered heart attacks or had comorbidities like diabetes.

“People came in with fractures, broken bones … Some collapsed on the spot and were brought dead,” said the official, who did not want to be named.

Opposition parties blamed the crush on what they called the government’s “mismanagement” and “VIP culture”.

“VIP culture should be curbed, and the government should make better arrangements to meet the needs of common devotees,” Rahul Gandhi, leader of the main opposition Congress party, said on X, referring to politicians and celebrities being treated differently.

Some 400 million people are expected to attend the festival many call “the world’s biggest festival of humanity”.Credit: AP

The holy men walk in a procession ahead of their dip.Credit: AP

Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, where the festival city is located, said the stampede was set off when some devotees tried to jump barricades put up to manage crowds.

In the aftermath, some people sat on the ground crying, while others stepped over belongings left by those trying to escape the crush.

A Rapid Action Force (RAF) – a special police unit called in during crises – was deployed after the crush, with devotees entering the water first and ascetics beginning their processions only after devotee numbers reduced.

Scores of ascetics, smeared in holy ash or wearing saffron, moved towards the confluence as security personnel and dense crowds of devotees looked on and helicopters showered petals from above.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to “devotees who have lost their loved ones”.

A similar crush on the most auspicious day of the festival, when it was last held in 2013, killed at least 36 pilgrims.

Reuters