PRAYAGRAJ, India — On Thursday, mourning families held the cremation ceremonies for their loved ones, while others attended to the injured in hospitals following a tragic stampede that claimed at least 30 lives and left around 60 individuals wounded. This calamity occurred the day before during the Maha Kumbh festival, a significant event attracting millions of Hindu pilgrims to the riverbanks of Prayagraj.

In response to the incident, the government of Uttar Pradesh has appointed a retired judge to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the stampede, and a report is expected within the following month. Despite the tragedy, masses of Hindus continued to partake in the bathing rituals integral to the festival without interruption.

The emotional toll of the tragedy was palpable, with a woman visibly devastated as an ambulance departed from a hospital morgue on the way to a cremation site. In one hospital, a patient named Sharvan Kumar Chaudhary, who was injured in the stampede, shared his experience from a stretcher, stating, “I fell during the stampede. I was with a friend who brought me here.”

Meanwhile, another pilgrim known simply as Rakesh was frantically searching for his loved ones who had traveled to the festival without him. “My wife, aunt, and children came for a bath, and they have been missing since the evening of January 28,” he lamented.

Eyewitnesses recounted the chaos that unfolded as chants of devotion transformed into shouts of fear and cries for help. The stampede erupted as numerous pilgrims, eager to reach the sacred confluence of the rivers, overwhelmed barricades that had been set up for a procession, leading to many being trampled in the rush.

The day of the incident was particularly sacred during the six-week-long festival, with expectations that around 100 million devotees would participate in the ritual bathing at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and Saraswati rivers. Hindus believe that bathing at this revered location can wash away sins and help liberate them from the cycle of reincarnation.

As the festival continues, nearly 400 million people are projected to visit Prayagraj over the course of its 45 days, marking it as the largest religious gathering globally. This figure surpasses the population of the United States and is approximately 200 times more than the 2 million pilgrims who visited Saudi Arabia for the Hajj last year. The festival commenced on January 13.