What is the Maha Kumbh Mela and why does it attract millions of Hindus? - Officials had been preparing for months for the world’s largest religious festival, with around 400 million Hindu pilgrims exp

Deadly crowd crushes are a notorious feature of Indian religious festivals and the Kumbh Mela, with its unfathomable throngs of devotees, already had a grim track record of deadly crowd crushes before the latest incident overnight.

A stampede at the world's largest religious gathering in India killed at least 15 people with many more injured, a doctor at the Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj told AFP Wednesday. More than 400 people died after being trampled or drowned at the Kumbh Mela on a single day of the festival in 1954,

Footage showed bodies being stretchered away and people sitting crying, while others stepped over a carpet of discarded belongings A stampede at the world's largest religious gathering in India killed at least 15 people on Wednesday with many more injured.