The deadly crowd crush at the Mahakumba fair of India: Everyone knows. Religion news

Many more have been injured after the deadly crowd was crushed at the world’s largest religious gathering at the Mahakumba fair in the prayer city of Northern India.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the state in which Shimagraj is located on Wednesday morning said that after the pilgrims crushed to participate in the morning bath ceremony, the barricades jumped on barricades with the aim of controlling the crowd during this incident. Went.

Near the river, 48 -year -old Pilgrim Renu Devi told the AFP news agency that they were sitting near a barricade during the incident, and “the whole crowd fell on me, trampling me moving forward”.

Devi said, “When the crowd increased, the elderly people and women were crushed, and no one came forward to help,” the Devi said.

According to Adityanath, till 8 am on Wednesday, about 30 million people took a holy dip.

Here everything we know about the crowd crush:

What happened?

Eyewitnesses told the Reuters News Agency that three rivers had a great push which is considered sacred, causing the worshipers fall on each other on 1AM (19:30 GMT).

Vijay Kumar, who attended the festival, told Reuters after the incident, “People were lying all around, I don’t know whether they were dead or alive.”

An unnamed woman who was part of the crowd told the Indian news agency, Annie, that people continued to step into the crush and “stepping on her and her mother.

“I’m safe, but my mother has died,” he said.

So far, the authorities have not yet confirmed the death, but the local media has reported that at least 10 people have been killed.

What is the sacred ceremony?

Kumbh Mela, which translates as a “festival of holy pitcher”, is the largest religious festival in the world.

According to local officials, 400 million people are expected to participate in a six -week long program.

The confluence of festivals, spirituality and astrology, is celebrated in a 12 -year cycle at four holy sites. There are six auspicious days within six weeks, but the four most important are 14 January, 29 January, 3 February and 26 February.

Devotees believe that taking a dip in prayer, where three rivers are considered sacred in Hinduism – Ganga, Yamuna, and mythological Saraswati – meet, will absorb them from sins and they will be absent from sins and from the cycle of life and death Will free

By rotation, the ceremony is held every four years in the cities of Shradragraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik. For the current phenomenon, prayer has built a tent city with electricity, water, 3,000 kitchens and 11 hospitals to accommodate visitors.

The police have also installed hundreds of cameras on the festival site and roads, which are so large that they pose a security threat when the crowd becomes so large.

Has the major public figures demonstrated the bathing ceremony?

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah have taken a dip in the Ganges in recent times. The Indian billionaire and the founder of the Adani Group, Gautam Adani, has also participated.

According to local media, Coldplay’s leading singer, Chris Martin and his girlfriend, actress Dakota Johnson are also visiting the Kumbh Mela.

What has been a stampede response?

On Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X that the accident was “extremely sad”.

“My deep condolences to the devotees who have lost their loved ones in it. In addition, I wish for the rapid recovery of all the injured. The local administration is engaged in helping the victims in every possible way, ”he wrote.

Local officials said paramilitary forces were deployed to control the situation, and rescue efforts were going on.

While opposition leader Rahul Gandhi expressed condolences to those who lost the loved ones during that stampede, they convicted what he called “VIP culture” during rituals for the incident.

Gandhi wrote on X, “Special attention of mismanagement, mismanagement and administration on VIP movement instead of common devotees is responsible for this tragic event.”

“VIP culture should be curbed and the government should make better arrangements to meet the needs of common devotees,” he said.

What has happened before?

Yes, in 2013, the last time the festival was hosted in Prayagraj, at least 36 people were killed in a crowd crush at a railway station.

In the same year, at least 115 people were killed in a crush in the Ratangad temple in Madhya Pradesh after a bridge collapsed.

In 2008, 145 people died when a nervous mob pushed people over a ravine near the Himalayan temple of Nana Devi.