The largest religious rally in the world, the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India, became deadly on Wednesday, with officials confirming at least 30 deaths and 60 people injured in a jostling the biggest day of the festival.
Some 100 million people had to converge on one of the holy places of Hindu devotees, on the banks of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.
It is not the first time that a great religious gathering in the country has led to a tragedy.
Here is a more in -depth examination of the festival.
What is the Kumbh Mela?
The Maha of India – or Grand – Kumbh Mela is the largest religious gathering in the world. It is often called “festival of festivals” and a major event in the Hindu calendar.
The ceremony has centuries and is based on a story in Hindu mythology where the gods and demons fought for a launcher, or Kumbh, which contained the nectar of immortality.
It attracts hundreds of millions of devotees, holy men, tourists and politicians, converging on the banks of the most bleeding rivers of Hinduism to bathe in waters considered sacred. A plunge into water is a means, for devoted Hindu, to clean their sins.
The Kumbh Mela pilgrimage takes place every three years, but a Maha Kumbh occurs every 12 years in Pragyaraj – a city of the Indian state of the Uttar Pradesh considered particularly holy because the rivers of the Ganges and Yamuna are Bring together there. It is also the end point of the mythical River Saraswati, as described in the ancient writings.
Maha Kumbh Mela, or a large launcher festival, takes place every 12 years in the city in the north of Prayagraj, because the Hindus believe that the bath in the sacred rivers brings the salvation of the cycle of birth and death, and the ‘Absolution of sins.
This year’s event is considered even more conducive due to a special celestial alignment of the sun, the moon and Jupiter which occurs only every 144 years.
For many Hindus, like Rahul Singh, 27, Maha Kumbh this year should not be missed.
“My heart is so happy to be here,” Singh told CBC News earlier this week before Wednesday’s log.
“I will never forget this day for the rest of my life,” said Singh, who led to 3 p.m. in his city over 900 kilometers to attend the festival for the first time.
The authorities predicted that Maha Kumbh of this year would break the previous attendance records.
What is the size really?
The Mela Kumbh scale is astounding.
The Indian government has said on several occasions that it was waiting for 400 million visitors this year – more than the United States population – during the 45 days of the festival that started on January 13.
The hundreds of millions of Kumbh Mela participants swim other religious rallies, the last in 2019 attracting around 240 million people. The pilgrimage of Hajj from last year to Mecca attracted 1.8 million people.
Prayagraj officials have set up 150,000 potties and 175,000 tents with regard to the eye, with 10,200 sanitation workers patrolling in an area that covers the equivalent of 7,500 football fields.
Some 50,000 police officers and guards were deployed.
The Maha Kumbh is so massive that it can be seen from Space, a fact that the American astronaut Don Pettit, which is on an extended stay at the international space station, published photos on the social media platform X , with legend: “The greatest human gathering in the world is well lit.”
The Uttar Pradesh state government spent $ 1.1 billion in CDN on the implementation of infrastructure surrounding the massive event and on safety and crowd management technology, the Imaging The first “MAHA KUMBH Digital”.
This technology included 2,750 video surveillance cameras powered by artificial intelligence to analyze video sequences, calculate the size of the crowd and alert officers when there is a wave of people in a section of the festival field.
What led to the deadly crushing on Wednesday?
Wednesday was the most conducive day of the six -week religious rally, the largest Shahi Snan – or day of swimming saint – when the faithful, led by Hindu Handy men called Naga SadhusImmerse yourself in the waters by believing that it will clean their sins and purify their soul.
Government authorities estimated that some 100 million people would attend on Wednesday. Previous reports from the region indicated that many bridges built around the rivers were very congestioned and that the police used speakers to direct pilgrims to shorten their time in the water.
On Wednesday, the early hours of the morning, millions of pilgrims converged on the shore, with a lot of sleeping near the Ghats, or sacred steps leading to the Ganges, to reserve a privileged place.
Indian officials say that at least 30 people were killed and 60 were injured in a jostling at the Maha Kumbh festival after a huge crowd allowed barriers and trampling people waiting to bathe in the holy rivers of India.
Witnesses described how the crowd suddenly spent several directions, with a lot of thrusts and push and trampling on other people who had fallen.
Others said they saw pushed barricades. A devotee, Renu Devi, told AFP news agency that it was seated near a barricade when a massive crowd came to it.
“In the midst of the push and the push, the whole crowd fell on me, pianting me while advancing,” said the 48 -year -old. “When the crowd has increased, the elderly and women were crushed, and no one showed up to help.”
The officials said that some had tried to climb on the police barricades installed to manage the crowd in order to get closer to the water.
What do government representatives say about the stampede?
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to recognize that there have been deaths when he offered condolences on social networks to families who have lost dear beings, qualifying the “extremely sad” tragedy.
But it came 10 hours after the crowd trampled on dozens of people, and it took hours before the officials confirmed a number of deaths.
The Hindu rally is important for the Indian government and has acquired a more political fold in the years since Modi and its Hindu nationalist party have been elected for the first time, with a more large -scale promotion of Kumbh Mela, the new standard.
State officials said there would be an investigation into what happened and compensation for the families of the victims.
To what extent is it common in the religious festivals of India?
It is not an unusual event for great religious rallies to end in death in India. Major Maha Kumbh Mela in 2013 saw 42 people killed after arriving at the medium station, also the cheap and the biggest day of the festival that year.
In 1954, the tragedy also struck the Kumbh Mela in what was one of the deadliest scholarships in India, with at least 300 dead and more than 1,000 injured.
More recently, in July 2024, 121 people were killed and more injured after a boost in a Hindu religious rally in Hathras, which is also in the Uttar Pradesh. The victims were mainly women and children.
