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Allahabad train station stampede kills at least 10 Allahabad train station stampede kills at least 31
(about 11 hours later)
At least 10 people are feared dead and dozens injured in a stampede at a train station in the northern Indian city of Allahabad, where millions of Hindus had gathered for a religious festival. An official says the death toll from a stampede during a Hindu festival in northern India has risen to 31.
The New Delhi Television channel reported that the stampede broke out after a footbridge at the station collapsed on Sunday with at least 10 people feared dead. The CNN-IBN news channel said at least 20 had been killed. There was no immediate confirmation from any local officials. Medical superintendent Dr P Padmakar of the main state-run hospital said Monday that at least 30 other pilgrims were injured in the crush at the main rail station in the pilgrim city of Allahabad.
Some 30 million devotees had been expected to take a dip at the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers, on one of the holiest bathing days of the Kumbh Mela. Padmakar said 23 of the dead were women.
The 55-day festival is one of the world's largest religious gatherings and attracts millions of worshipers. The bathing days are decided by the alignment of stars, and Hindus believe a dip in sacred waters on one of these days will wash away their sins and free them from the cycle of death and rebirth. Tens of thousands of people were in the station when a section of a footbridge there collapsed, leading to the stampede late on Sunday.
The Kumbh Mela, which celebrates the victory of gods over demons in a battle over immortality-giving nectar, is held four times every 12 years in Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar. Indian railway minister Pawan Bansal said the stampede happened in the Allahabad train station on Sunday evening. News reports said tens of thousands of people were in the station when a section of a footbridge there collapsed, leading to the stampede.
Television showed large crowds pushing and jostling at the train station as policemen struggled to restore order.
"There was complete chaos. There was no doctor or ambulance for at least two hours after the accident," a witness told NDTV news channel.
An estimated 30 million Hindus were expected to take a dip at the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers on Sunday, one of the holiest bathing days of the Kumbh Mela, or Pitcher Festival. The festival lasts 55 days and is one of the world's largest religious gatherings.
The auspicious bathing days are decided by the alignment of stars, and the most dramatic feature of the festival is the Naga sadhus ascetics with ash rubbed all over their bodies, wearing only marigold garlands leaping joyfully into the holy waters.
According to Hindu mythology, the Kumbh Mela celebrates the victory of gods over demons in a furious battle over nectar that would give them immortality. As one of the gods fled with a pitcher of the nectar across the skies, it spilled on four Indian towns_Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar.
The Kumbh Mela is held four times every 12 years in those towns. Hindus believe that sins accumulated in past and current lives require them to continue the cycle of death and rebirth until they are cleansed. If they bathe at the Ganges on the most auspicious day of the festival, believers say they can rid themselves of their sins.