Probe ordered after 30 deaths at world’s largest religious festival in India - Indian authorities have released an official statement on the death toll but it is expected to rise

Mahakumbh Nagar: A stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh early Wednesday left more than seven people dead and around ten others injured, officials confirmed to Reuters.

A deadly stampede at Triveni Sangam ghat during Mahakumbh 2025 resulted in at least fifteen deaths as devotees gathered for Mauni Amavasya Amrit Snan. Prime Minister Modi expressed condolences and is coordinating relief efforts with Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister.

Hundreds died in a stampede at the first Kumbh Mela in independent India in Allahabad in 1954 – a disaster caused by administrative miscalculations, poor crowd control, and infrastructural limitations.

More than 100 people were killed in a stampede in northern India in July 2024 following a Hindu religious gathering, making it one of the deadliest such accidents in years. Thousands had gathered at a makeshift tent for an event led by a Hindu preacher in Uttar Pradesh state.

A senior police officer said at least 30 people died as a crowd panicked at the Hindu Kumbh Mela mega-festival in the northern city of Prayagraj.

This video can not be played BBC reports from scene of India's Kumbh Mela crush Edited by Neha Gohil and Tinshui Yeung in London and produced by Geeta Pandey and Zoya Mateen in Delhi, with Vikas Pandey,

At least 30 people have been killed and dozens more injured in crowd crushes at the Maha Kumbh Mela in India, where millions have gathered to bathe at the confluence of sacred rivers.

The Kumbh Mela happens every 12 years at Sangam, the confluence of three sacred rivers - the Ganges (Ganga), Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati. Hindus believe that bathing in the sacred waters will cleanse them of sins and help them attain salvation.