Sawt Falasteen - At least 15 dead in India stampede at Hindu mega-festival

Deadly crowd incidents are a frequent occurrence at Indian religious festivals, including the Kumbh Mela, which attracts tens of millions of devotees every 12 years to the northern city of Prayagraj.

As pilgrims rushed to participate in a sacred day of ritual bathing, people sleeping and sitting on the ground near the rivers told AFP they were trampled by huge swells of devotees coming towards them in the darkness.

"The entire crowd fell on top of me, trampling me as it moved forward," pilgrim Renu Devi, 48, told AFP.

"When the crowd surged, elderly people and women were crushed, and no one came forward to help."

Rescue teams carrying victims from the accident site weaved through piles of clothes, shoes and other discarded belongings.

Police were seen carrying stretchers bearing the bodies of victims draped with thick blankets.

"At least 15 people" were killed with dozens more injured, a doctor at a hospital tending to survivors told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to talk to media.

Hours after the stampede, which took place around 1:00 am (1930 GMT Tuesday), authorities had not announced any official death toll.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed people had died in the incident, calling it "extremely sad" and offering his "deepest condolences" to relatives of those killed.

"I wish for the speedy recovery of all injured," he added.

Dozens of relatives were anxiously waiting for news outside a large tent serving as a purpose-built hospital for the festival near the disaster site.

- 'Please cooperate' -

The six-week Kumbh Mela is the single biggest milestone on the Hindu religious calendar.

Wednesday marks one of the holiest days in the festival, when saffron-clad holy men typically lead millions in a sin-cleansing ritual of bathing at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.

Instead, officials were strolling the festival with loudhailers pleading with pilgrims to keep away from the disaster site and bathe at other locations.

"We humbly request all devotees do not come to the main bathing spot," said one festival staffer, his voice crackling through his megaphone.

"Please cooperate with security personnel."

But even as news of the stampede spread, crowds pushed through cordons to move towards the riverbed, shrugging off aggressive orders from police to turn back.

Officials from the Uttar Pradesh state government, responsible for staging the festival, said millions continued to bathe in the hours after the stampede.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told reporters that medical workers were treating those seriously injured in the crush, adding that the situation was "under control".

"Mismanagement and the administration's special focus on VIP movement instead of common devotees are responsible for this tragic incident," he wrote on social media.

- 'My family got scared' -

Railway police superintendent Ashtabhuja Singh told AFP that special train services taking pilgrims to Prayagraj were still running, after earlier reports that they had been halted due to crowding in the city.

"My family got scared, so we're leaving," attendee Sanjay Nishad told AFP.

The Kumbh Mela is rooted in a mythological Hindu battle between deities and demons for control of a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality.

Organisers have likened the scale of this year's festival to a temporary country, forecasting up to 400 million pilgrims would visit before the final day on February 26.

Police this year installed hundreds of cameras at the festival site and on roads leading to the sprawling encampment, mounted on poles and a fleet of overhead drones.

The surveillance network feeds into a sophisticated command and control centre meant to alert staff if sections of the crowd get so concentrated that they pose a safety threat.

"If you see advertisements it seems like the government is providing world class facilities," university student Ruchi Bharti told AFP not far from the riverbank.

"But this stampede proved that was all a lie."

More than 400 people died after they were trampled or drowned at the Kumbh Mela on a single day of the festival in 1954, one of the largest tolls in a crowd-related disaster globally.

Another 36 people were crushed to death in 2013, the last time the festival was staged in Prayagraj.

N.Shalabi--SF-PST