New Delhi: A stampede occurred at the Sangam on Wednesday during the ongoing Maha Kumbh, as millions of pilgrims converged for a holy bath on Mauni Amavasya. Officer on Special Duty for the Mela Akanksha Rana said, “Some people have got injured and have been hospitalised after a barrier broke at the Sangam. We are yet to have the exact count of those injured”.
Eyewitnesses recalled how utter chaos and panic gripped the area as the stampede unfolded. A weeping Sarojini from Karnataka told PTI, “We came in a batch of 60 people in two buses, we were nine people in the group. Suddenly, there was pushing in the crowd, and we got trapped. A lot of us fell down and the crowd went uncontrolled. There was no chance for escape, there was pushing from all sides.”
A man from Madhya Pradesh’s Chhattarpur shared that his mother was injured and hospitalised, while a middle-aged married couple from Meghalaya sobbed as they recounted their traumatic experience of getting caught in the chaos.
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Narrating her ordeal, another woman, whose child suffered injuries in the chaos, said, “There was nowhere to go. Some people who pushed us were laughing while we begged them for kindness towards the children.”
‘People tripped over, lost balance’
Vivek Mishra, another eyewitness, was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times that the chaos at the Sangam was triggered by the crowd’s confusion about where to go, along with hidden dustbins that caused people to trip over and lose their balance. Mishra said the situation got worse when people began shoving, which led to the stampede, and explained how he suffered injuries while trying to help others in the confusion.
He told the news outlet that the main issue was that the massive crowd at the Sangam didn’t know where to go after taking bath. Many of them were carrying heavy luggage on their heads, and the devotees couldn’t see the numerous iron dustbins. He added that a few people lost their balance and tripped over, and their luggage was strewn all over the place.
Some devotees, who were witness to the incident, said that the stampede took place because the exit route was blocked, which trapped the crowd.
