Prayagraj: Wards at the government-run Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital (SRN), located seven kilometres away from the Maha Kumbh Mela, are filled with victims of the stampedes that occurred on 29 January.
The shared experience has left the victims—who came from various states including Bihar, West Bengal and Karnataka—has left them both scarred and grateful they are still alive. At least 30 people lost their lives, while over 60 were injured.
Eyewitnesses told ThePrint that a second stampede took place, hours after the one at the Sangam, at Jhusi, around three kilometres away. The one at Jhusi, they said, took place around 5.30-6 am, while the one at the Sangam happened between 1 and 2 am. Maha Kumbh DIG Vaibhav Krishna told media Friday that reports of the second stampede are being verified.
Ranjan Mandal, 32, was visiting the Maha Kumbh Mela for the first time. He had travelled from Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, with four other family members, including his elderly mother.
“Post 12 am on the morning of 29 January, we were going to take a dip in the Sangam,” Mandal told ThePrint. “I heard police officers requesting people who had already done so to leave.”
Multiple eyewitnesses ThePrint spoke to said that in the early hours of 29 January, there was a bottleneck at the Sangam.
Those injured in the stampede said the devotees who had already taken the holy bath the previous night were not leaving.
They waited by the ghats for a chance to bathe once more, during the brahma muhurta—a period before sunrise that is considered auspicious. This created a crowd surge in the Sangam area.
“Suddenly, I heard my mother shout for help,” said Mandal. “She had tripped on a bag and was on the ground. I saw around seven to eight people trample her.”
Mandal’s mother is a heart patient. “My mind went blank,” he said. “I thought my mother had died.”
With no clear ways to leave the area, Mandal spoke of the chaos that ensued during this time. “We touched the feet of nearby police officers. No one helped.”
Ultimately, it was the crowd caught in the stampede that came to Mandal’s aid.
A man from Varanasi carried Mandal’s mother on his back to the nearby bus station, where the family waited until 6 am for an ambulance.
She has been recovering at SRN ever since.
Speaking to ThePrint, Maha Kumbh Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rajesh Dwivedi said: “Every 5 minutes, an ambulance came to take the injured to a hospital. There were a lot of people there, some sleeping, sitting, all waiting to take a dip.”
He added: “We immediately redirected the crowd and deferred the Amrit Snan. If we hadn’t acted fast, the situation could have been a lot worse. Within 1 hour the situation was stabilised after which we resumed the Amrit Snan.”
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Old and young both affected
Ram Prasad Yadav, 35, lost all his belongings in the stampede. He has no mobile phone, money, or clothes. But that is the least of his concerns.
“I saw two to three women die in front of me,” Yadav told ThePrint. “My mother was trampled on. Her condition was so bad she could not drink water or juice for hours after.”
Yadav’s mother, Sukha Devi, 65, is recovering at SRN from a punctured lung.
Several young people too are among the injured.
Rajeev Singh, 22, had travelled to the Maha Kumbh Mela with his brother Ayush Singh, 23, and several others from Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh.
Their group got caught in the stampede near the Sangam as well.
Rajeev fractured his jaw. He is recovering at SRN, with stitches covering multiple parts of his face.
Ayush explained in vivid detail the events of that morning. Another member of their group, Rahul Singh, suffer a brain clot and has been taken to Varanasi for treatment.
“The barriers broke,” Ayush told ThePrint. “It was a disaster. I got separated from my brother, but the police were very helpful and reunited us.”
‘Poor crisis management’
The victims ThePrint spoke to all pointed to a lack of crisis management on behalf of the police officers on the ground.
Police personnel guarding the barricades and supposedly guiding the crowds through the Maha Kumbh Mela were not helpful, both during and after the stampede, they said.
This could possibly be because of the overwhelming nature of crowd surges.
“The police arrangement was bad,” a 36-year-old man from Kolkata, who wished not to be named, told ThePrint.
His mother-in-law, 74, got injured in the Sangam stampede and was separated from him for over four hours.
“I specifically requested the police for help, but they were not cooperating,” he told ThePrint.
In the end, the police officers in the lost and found centres set up in the Maha Kumbh Mela grounds came to his rescue, he said.
Victims at SRN spoke positively of both government officers and hospital staff, who made them feel well taken care of after the stampede.
And although some people complained about how the hospital wanted to discharge them early, their main concern was the mismanagement at the Maha Kumbh Mela grounds, which caused the stampede.
“They had blocked off multiple pathways and bridges for the crowd to exit. The way into the Sangam was the same as the way out,” said another victim who did not wish to be named.
“A small push in such a compact space has ripple effects.”
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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