Hindu devotees have sacred marks reading 'Radhe' on their foreheads at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the Saraswati rivers during the 45-day-long Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj, India, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. Credit: AP/Ashwini Bhatia

Moments before a deadly stampede at the world's biggest religious gathering in India, Hindu devotees queuing to take a spiritual bath in a river said they pleaded with police to open barricaded routes to thin out a surging crowd.

Mona Lisa Bhonsale, the 16-year-old girl who became a viral sensation at the Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj city of India's Uttar Pradesh state, has signed her first Bollywood film deal, according to Indian media.

Millions of Hindus are gathering in a northern Indian city for the Maha Kumbh festival, the world’s largest religious congregation.

More than seven people were killed and around 10 injured in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India on Wednesday, said an official, as tens of millions gathered to take a holy dip on the most auspicious day of the six-week Hindu festival.

At least 30 people were killed and over 30 have been injured in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela, one of the world's biggest gatherings that occurs every 12 years.

At least 17 people were killed and many more injured in a stampede at India's Maha Kumbh festival, the world's largest religious gathering, a doctor at a government hospital said, as tens of thousands of pilgrims rushed to dip in sacred river waters during the Hindu event.

More than seven people were killed in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival, in the northern Indian holy city of Prayagraj on Wednesday.

Several people are feared dead and many more injured as tens of thousands of Hindus rushed to take a holy bath in the river at the massive Maha Kumbh festival in India

Hindu devotees and mystics have gathered in the northern Indian city of Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh festival, which is the largest religious congregation on Earth.

Nearly 40 people were killed in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday and several others injured in a pre-dawn stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela - a Hindu religious festival touted to be the largest human gathering in the world.