A look at crowd disasters over the years in India

Several people are feared dead and many more injured as tens of thousands of devotees rushed to bathe in Sangam at the Maha Kumbh

PRAYAGRAJ: Several people are feared dead and many more injured as tens of thousands of devotees rushed to bathe in Sangam at the Maha Kumbh. Wednesday was a holy day in the six-week festival, which started on Jan. 13, and authorities were expecting a record over 10 crore devotees to engage in ritual bathing at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers.

The Maha Kumbh, held every 12 years, is the world’s largest religious gathering. Authorities expect more than 40 crore people to visit the pilgrimage this year.

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Here’s a look at other major stampedes in the country over the past two decades:

A stampede in Uttar Pradesh in 2024

More than 100 people were killed in a stampede in northern India in July 2024 following a 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 preacher in Uttar Pradesh. The victims were crushed to death as they rushed to leave. Video of the aftermath showed the makeshift structure appeared to have collapsed.

A bridge collapse at the Navaratri celebrations in 2013

A collapsing bridge caused a stampede that killed 115 people, mostly women and children, on October 13, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had come to a temple in the remote town of Ratangarh in Madhya Pradesh on the last day of the Navaratri festival.

A stampede at a temple in Jodhpur in 2008

At least 168 people were killed and 100 injured when thousands of pilgrims stampeded at a temple in Jodhpur on September 30, 2008. Severe overcrowding apparently caused the crush, as more than 12,000 people gathered at the temple to celebrate Navaratri, a Hindu festival.

Landslide rumors caused deadly crowd surge in 2008

Dozens of women and children were among the 145 people who died on August 3, 2008, when thousands of pilgrims stampeded at a remote mountaintop temple during celebrations to honour goddess Shakrti. The devotees attended Navaratri at the Naina Devi Temple in the Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh. Rumors of a landslide apparently started the panic, according to a senior government official.

A stampede and blaze during religious procession in 2005

A stampede during a religious procession to a hilltop temple on January 25, 2005, killed at least 258 people and injured 200 near the village of Wai, some 241 kilometres south of Mumbai. The stampede was triggered after several pilgrims inside the temple fell on a slippery floor and were crushed to death by other pilgrims who apparently walked on them. Angered over the deaths, some pilgrims started a fire that gutted hundreds of makeshift shops along a narrow walkway leading to the temple and set off the deadly rush.