The tragic stampede during the Maha Kumbh event in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj on Wednesday claimed 30 lives, but the disaster did not end there—there were actually two stampedes.
The second tragedy occurred in Jhusi, located about three kilometres from the Sangam nose, where overcrowding and overwhelming pressure from the crowd led to the deaths of seven individuals, including a child, The Hindustan Times reported.
Kalpvasi police station circle officer, Rudra Kumar Singh, told the newspaper that excessive crowd pressure was the cause of the deadly incident.
Despite the grave nature of the event, the state administration chose not to address the incident, even during a 7 pm briefing on Wednesday, where district magistrate Mahakumbh Nagar Vijay Kiran Anand and mela DIG Vaibhav Krishna spoke about the initial stampede at the Sangam, which took place between 1 am and 2 am.
The officials acknowledged the deaths in the first incident but failed to comment on the second stampede when questioned by HT.
Eyewitnesses reported that the incident in Jhusi occurred around 6 am on Wednesday as pilgrims, returning from a bath at Sector 18, collided with another group of devotees heading in the opposite direction towards Jhusi to exit the mela.
The situation worsened as more people joined the already dense crowd, creating chaos for over 30 minutes.
While the identities of the deceased have been partially confirmed, clarity on their names remains pending.
The bodies will be handed over to their families once identified. The stampedes occurred on Mauni Amawasya, a sacred day during the nearly two-month-long Maha Kumbh festival, when around 76.5 million devotees took a ritual dip at the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
The second tragedy occurred in Jhusi, located about three kilometres from the Sangam nose, where overcrowding and overwhelming pressure from the crowd led to the deaths of seven individuals, including a child, The Hindustan Times reported.
Kalpvasi police station circle officer, Rudra Kumar Singh, told the newspaper that excessive crowd pressure was the cause of the deadly incident.
Despite the grave nature of the event, the state administration chose not to address the incident, even during a 7 pm briefing on Wednesday, where district magistrate Mahakumbh Nagar Vijay Kiran Anand and mela DIG Vaibhav Krishna spoke about the initial stampede at the Sangam, which took place between 1 am and 2 am.
The officials acknowledged the deaths in the first incident but failed to comment on the second stampede when questioned by HT.
Eyewitnesses reported that the incident in Jhusi occurred around 6 am on Wednesday as pilgrims, returning from a bath at Sector 18, collided with another group of devotees heading in the opposite direction towards Jhusi to exit the mela.
The situation worsened as more people joined the already dense crowd, creating chaos for over 30 minutes.
While the identities of the deceased have been partially confirmed, clarity on their names remains pending.
The bodies will be handed over to their families once identified. The stampedes occurred on Mauni Amawasya, a sacred day during the nearly two-month-long Maha Kumbh festival, when around 76.5 million devotees took a ritual dip at the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
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