It was the peak moment at one of the holiest gatherings on the Hindu calendar — the Maha Kumbh Mela, a 45-day celebration that brings hundreds of millions of the faithful to bathe in the joined Ganges and Yamuna rivers, washing away their sins.
Anticipating record attendance, Indian officials said they were employing new technology to help regulate the crowds at this year’s pilgrimage. But nothing was capable of keeping up with the rush as Tuesday turned to Wednesday, when an estimated 100 million came to the waters over just a handful of hours and then suddenly dashed to leave in a deadly panic.
Emergency medical workers at the scene of the stampede in Prayagraj.
Some stampede victims had been sleeping or resting when they were trampled by dense crowds of people after a fence broke.
Crowd-control fences became perilous obstacles.
Ambulances waiting to transport a huge number of attendees who were injured.
Many resorted to crawling under the crowd barriers to leave the scene.
A man rushing from the scene, holding on to a relative who had been killed.
People looking for their belongings after the stampede.
Security personnel rushing to the scene. Just before the deadly crowd crush, officers had struggled to clear people away from the rivers to make room for those pressing in.
A temporary pontoon bridge was a choke point for attendees trying to leave.
Police personnel giving instructions to the people crossing the bridge.
A man who lost a loved one, grieving at the scene.