A woman who was part of the crowd but did not give her name told news agency ANI that people “kept stepping” on her mother and her when they fell.

“I am safe but my mother has died,” she said.

The Hindu festival is the world’s largest congregation of humanity, attracting some 400 million over its six weeks compared with the Haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia which drew 1.8 million last year. By Tuesday nearly 200 million people have attended the 2025 festival since it started two weeks ago.

Devout Hindus believe taking a dip at the confluence of three sacred rivers — the Ganga, the Yamuna, and the mythical, invisible Saraswati — absolves people of sins, and during the Kumbh, it also brings salvation from the cycle of life and death.

More than 36 million people had taken a holy dip on Wednesday by 10 a.m. (11:30 p.m. ET Tuesday), said officials.

Attendees range from Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah to ani Group Chairman Gautam ani and celebrities like Coldplay’s Chris Martin and actress Dakota Johnson, who local media reported reached Prayagraj on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expected to visit the festival next month.

Authorities had expected a record 100 million people to throng the temporary township in Prayagraj on Wednesday, and had deployed additional security and medical personnel along with AI-software based technology to manage the crowd.

A Rapid Action Force (RAF) — a special police unit called in during crisis — was deployed to bring the situation under control and rescue efforts were underway, officials said.

Opposition parties criticized the federal and state governments and blamed the stampede on what they called “mismanagement” and “VIP culture.”

“VIP culture should be curbed and the government should make better arrangements to meet the needs of common devotees,” Rahul Gandhi, leader of the main opposition Congress party said on X, referring to politicians and celebrities being treated differently.

A similar stampede had broken out on the most auspicious day of the festival when it was last held in 2013, killing at least 36 pilgrims, mostly women.