Image source, Reuters

If you're just joining us, here's what we know so far about the crowd crush at India's Kumbh Mela religious festival.

• We are still waiting for an official update on the death toll, more than 12 hours after the incident. Eyewitnesses and hospital sources tell the BBC that at least 12 people have been killed

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other government officials have offered condolences to the families of pilgrims that died - but has remained silent on the number of people that died in the crush

• Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that several pilgrims had been seriously injured and are being treated in hospitals
• Some eyewitnesses have told the BBC that they cannot find their families, as they describe being toppled during the crush
• The BBC's Vikas Pandey reports that the main hospital at the Kumbh Mela is cordoned off and has turned into a no-entry zone, with media being refused access
• According to the latest figure shared by the government, 50.4 million people have bathed today at Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj by 14:00 local time (08:30GMT). That takes the overall figure of bathers since the start of the festival to 249.8 million

As a reminder, the incident took place between 01:00-02:00 local time (19:30-20:30 GMT) when a group pilgrims tried to jump over police barricades to reach Sangam Nose, the point where India's most sacred Ganges River meets the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.

Vikas Pandey
Reporting from Prayagraj

Quiet bathing away from the crowded Sangam Bathing has been going on at smaller river banks away from the confluence (Sangam) of the rivers.

This bathing spot is about 2km (1 mile) away from the confluence and has a modest number of people taking a dip in the Ganges.

Many of the people here chose to come here instead of going to the confluence after hearing about the crush.

It's been more than 12 hours since the crush at the Kumbh Mela.

But thousands of people are continuing to arrive at the massive festival in Uttar Pradesh. Watch below to see the scenes as pilgrims come to the site.

We're bringing you some more reaction now from the leader of India's main opposition party, who has fiercely criticised the Kumbh Mela's "condemnable" planning.

"Half-baked arrangements, VIP movement, paying more attention to self-promotion than management and mismanagement are responsible for this," Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the Congress party, writes on X.

"Central and state governments should wake up now" to prevent similar incidents during the rest of the festival, he adds, "and VIP movement should be curbed".

The Kumbh Mela is taking place in Uttar Pradesh, which is governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party.

Vikas Pandey
Reporting from Prayagraj

The Shahi Snan (royal bath) - which sees groups of ash-smeared holy men from akharas or religious sects taking dips in the river - has started after delays. The proceedings are very muted.

The ascetics are taking out processions towards the Sangam, the most auspicious bathing point at the Kumbh Mela, but the usual pageantry is missing.

These men renounce all worldly things - including clothes - and command huge respect among the devotees.

People have lined up to see them and seek their blessing.

The first akhara (sect) has just started their procession and I can see that the mood is sombre.

They were meant to take the dip in the early hours of the morning but suspended their plans after the crush.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and federal ministers including Home Minister Amit Shah have expressed condolences for the victims of the Kumbh Mela crush, acknowledging the loss of lives.

However, the Uttar Pradesh government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Yogi Adityanath, have remained silent on the death toll. The have only said that several people have been injured, some critically.

Despite numerous eyewitness reports and videos indicating fatalities, local authorities have yet to release official numbers or comment on the scale of the tragedy, nearly 12 hours after the incident.

The contrast between the central and state responses has sparked criticism, with many questioning the lack of transparency.

The public is demanding clarity from local officials, while anxious families wait outside hospitals, desperate for news of their missing loved ones. In the chaos, key communication has been itself a casualty.

Image source, Reuters

Vikas Pandey
Reporting from Prayagraj

Despite the morning's deadly crush, tens of thousands of people are still arriving to take a dip at the confluence.

But I can see that stricter security measures are in place now. Police are directing devotees towards other river banks and asking them not to converge at the confluence.

The pilgrims I spoke to say they were shaken by the incident but would continue with their plans to take a dip.

“I have taken a long journey from Madhya Pradesh [a neighbouring state] to come here and I can’t go back without taking a dip. Faith is above everything else for me,” Anuj Jaiswal, a devotee, says.

Neha Sharma
Reporting from Prayagraj

Eyewitness Kishan told the BBC earlier that he was among the devotees waiting to take a dip at the Sangam when he and the others felt like they were being pushed.

"We were thrown. Some ladies fell. We surrounded them. Anything could have happened at that moment. The crowds were diverted otherwise it would have been worse.”

Neyaz Farooquee
Reporting from Delhi

We reported earlier that Kumbh Mela is usually so big that it can be seen from space.

This week, Nasa astronaut Don Pettit posted images captured by the International Space Station (ISS) – 400km (248 miles) above in the sky - to show how the mela ground transforms at night into an illuminated sea of humanity.

“2025 Maha Kumbh Mela Ganges river pilgrimage from the ISS at night. The largest human gathering in the world is well lit,” he wrote on X in a post that has attracted more than a million views.

Image source, Don Pettit

Image source, Don Pettit

Image source, Don Pettit

We are bringing you some pictures of the aftermath of the crush.

An eyewitness told us earlier how the chaos unfolded on the banks of the Ganges - where at least 12 people are believed to have died.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

You can see more photos from the aftermath here

Cherylann Mollan
Reporting from Mumbai

The surge of pilgrims at the Kumbh Mela continues despite the crush that took place in the early hours.

As of 12:00 India time (06:30 GMT), nearly 42 million pilgrims had performed bathing rituals at Prayagraj, officials said.

They added that nearly 200 million people have bathed in the river since the festival began on 13 January. Millions more are expected to visit before it ends on 26 February.

Geeta Pandey
Reporting from Delhi

Image source, UP Information department

Kumbh Mela has been recognised as the largest gathering of humanity in the world and is so big that it can be seen from space. Held every 12 years, the festival attracts tens of millions of pilgrims, holy men and tourists.

Although the festival is held in four Indian cities - Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik and Ujjain - the grandest gatherings always take place in Prayagraj.

Worshippers arrive here in large numbers to bathe at Sangam - the confluence of the sacred Ganges river with the Yamuna and mythical invisible Saraswati rivers.

The devout believe that during Kumbh, the waters of the sacred rivers get imbued with amrit (nectar) and that taking a dip during the festival will cleanse them of their sins, help them break free from the cycle of birth and death and help them attain salvation.

The presence of ash-smeared holy men, some dressed only in marigold garlands, is also a huge draw for many pilgrims who come to seek their blessings.

This time the crowd is even bigger since the state authorities have billed the festival as a Maha - great - Kumbh which happens only after 144 years. Many of the pilgrims told the BBC that they were visiting the mela as they wouldn't get the opportunity again in their lifetime.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is the second top official after Prime Minister Narendra Modi to offer condolences to the families of those who have lost loved ones in the crush.

In a post on X, he called the accident in Prayagraj "extremely painful" and expressed condolences to victims' relatives.

"I wish for the speedy recovery of all the injured," he wrote in a post on X.

Singh's post comes an hour after that of Modi, which confirmed that people had died in the accident.

As we have reported, authorities are yet to release details about the number of people who have died or been injured in the crush.

Vikas Pandey
Reporting from Prayagraj

Anita Devi, who came to attend the festival from the central city of Jhansi, is desperately searching for her husband.

“He needs his medicines but they are with me. When the crush happened, I lost hold of his hand and he was gone in a blink," she told the BBC.

"It’s been so many hours but I can’t find him. This year there are so many lost-and-found centres that I don’t know where he might have gone. I am praying hard that he is alive and safe.”

Many pilgrims like her at the Kumbh Mela are still searching for their loved ones.

Image source, Getty Images

Getting lost at the festival isn't uncommon, which is why there are lost-and-found centres at the festival site. People go there to request for an announcement to be made for their loved ones.

Some people wait for hours and even days but most are eventually reunited with their families.

The news of Wednesday's crush has made people more anxious this time as they fear the worst.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in a post on X (formerly Twitter) offered his condolences to devotees who have lost family members.

His tweet is the first official confirmation that there have been deaths in the crush. As we have been reporting since the morning, no official had confirmed deaths so far, though sources had told the BBC that at least a dozen people have died.

Earlier, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath confirmed the crush and spoke of serious injuries, but he did not mention deaths.

"The accident that happened in Prayagraj Maha Kumbh is extremely sad. My deepest condolences to the devotees who have lost their loved ones in this,” Modi wrote on X.

He said he was constantly in touch with the state government and had spoken to Adityanath about the morning's incident.

Crowd crushes are tragically frequent in India, often leading to loss of lives.

Just this month, six people died in a crush at one of India's wealthiest temples in town of Tirupati insouthern Andhra Pradesh state. Last year, over 120 people were killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district during a religious gathering, highlighting recurring safety lapses.

According to government data, 47 crushes happened in India in 2021 and 2022, though it's not clear how many people died in these.

The main cause is massive overcrowding at religious events, festivals, and public spaces.

While authorities are generally adept at managing large gatherings, poor planning, inadequate crowd control, and lack of accountability make such disasters inevitable.

Tight spaces, sudden surges, and the absence of emergency exits further worsen the risk.

Image source, AFP

Even urban areas aren’t immune - like the 2017 Mumbai railway station crush, which killed 22. The tragedy occurred on a footbridge during the morning rush hour.

A 1997 cinema hall fire in Delhi, one of India's worst fire tragedies, killed 59 people due to asphyxiation and injured 103 in a panicked crowd crush during a screening of a Bollywood film. In total darkness, balcony viewers had rushed to the exits without emergency lights or staff to guide them.

Despite repeated tragedies, safety measures remain weak, and authorities rarely face consequences. Until crowd management improves and accountability is enforced, these devastating incidents will continue.

Vikas Pandey
Reporting from Prayagraj

The main hospital at the Kumbh Mela has been cordoned off and turned into a no-entry zone.

Ambulances have been entering and exiting the premises the entire morning.

But no-one, including the media, is being allowed to enter the hospital.

If you're just joining us, here's what we know so far, several hours after a crush at India's Kumbh Mela festival:

• Eyewitnesses and hospital sources have told the BBC that at least a dozen worshippers have been killed in the crush in Prayagraj
• Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that several pilgrims are seriously injured - but he did not give any numbers and did not address media reports about deaths
• The incident took place between 1am and 2am local time (19:30 and 20:30GMT) when some pilgrims tried to jump over police barricades to reach Sangam Nose, the point where India's most sacred river Ganges meets Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers. Devotees believe that bathing in the river will cleanse their sins and help attain salvation
• Wednesday - which is being celebrated as Mauni Amavasya, a day meant for silent introspection - was billed as the most important day for bathing during the festival
• Officials had said up to 100 million people were expected to attend today - they say more than 36 million have already bathed by 10:00 India time
• The biggest draw of the day - the Shahi snan or the royal bath - that sees thousands of ash-smeared ascetics taking a plunge in the river has been delayed. The ascetics earlier said they would cancel their appearance, but later said they would go to Sangam for bathing with their processions scaled down

Indian opposition leaders have criticised the government and alleged that mismanagement has led to the crush at the Kumbh Mela in which 12 people are feared to have died.

"Mismanagement, mismanagement and administration's special focus on VIP movement instead of common devotees are responsible for this tragic incident," Rahul Gandhi, opposition leader in parliament, said in a post on X, calling the incident "extremely sad".

President of Gandhi's Congress party, Mallikarjun Kharge, also criticised the Uttar Pradesh government for "half-baked arrangements" and prioritising the movement of VIPs.

Uttar Pradesh state is governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party.

Leaders of other opposition parties have expressed their condolences.

As we have been reporting, officials have still not confirmed how many people have been injured or died in the crush.

Image source, Getty Images

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of Uttar Pradesh - the state where Prayagraj is situated - has finally given an explanation of what led to Wednesday morning's crush.

The incident, he said, "took place between 1 and 2am" when some pilgrims tried to jump over police barricades to reach the Sangam Nose.

"Some pilgrims were seriously injured and they are being treated in hospitals," he said.

But the chief minister did not give any numbers and did not address media reports that say several people have been killed in the crush.

He added that "the situation is under control, but 80 to 100 million worshippers are present at the mela grounds" even now and appealed to the pilgrims to not head to the Sangam Nose but bathe at the river banks wherever they are.

"You will receive the same blessings no matter where you bathe in the Ganges on this special day," he added.