The first ambulance siren sliced through the quiet night. Then another. And another. Within minutes, the wails of sirens filled the air, signaling something catastrophic. Something big had happened.
Reports of a stampede at Sangam Nose during the Mauni Amavasya 'Amrit Snan' started trickling in. Without wasting a moment, we rushed to Central Hospital in Sector 2, where ambulances were arriving one after another. The sight that awaited us confirmed our worst fears. Outside the emergency ward, a wave of panic and despair had already taken over. Stretchers with bloodied bodies were being rushed in, relatives clung to the gates pleading for updates, and police had sealed off the area, preventing the public and media from entering.
Determined to find out what was happening, I posed as a relative searching for someone and managed to slip inside. The moment I stepped through the doors, the scale of the disaster became clear.
Over ten lifeless bodies lay lined up on the floor, waiting to be identified. The injured-some unconscious, others moaning in pain-were scattered across stretchers and makeshift beds, as doctors and nurses worked frantically to save them.
"We are doing our best, but there are too many injured," a doctor said, barely looking up as he bandaged a man's bloodied forehead.
Women, elderly, and even children lay on stretchers, some with fractured limbs, others gasping for breath after being crushed in the suffocating crowd. Whenever a patient stabilized, they were quickly moved to make space for more critical cases.
As the chaos unfolded inside, bodies were quietly being moved out through the emergency exit. Some covered in sheets, others still waiting for identification. Ambulances continued to ferry in more injured and lifeless bodies for over three hours.
With beds filling up, several critical patients were transferred to Swarooprani Hospital, where more facilities were available.
Outside, grief and confusion gripped the families waiting for news. Many had lost their loved ones in the crush; others were desperately searching for missing relatives.
Back at Sangam Ghat, where the stampede occurred, police cordoned off the area, but survivors were still seen searching through heaps of abandoned belongings-chappals without their pairs, torn bags, scattered blankets, and even packets of food left behind in the panic.
"I lost everything-our money, train tickets, even my husband's shawl," sobbed Shanti Devi, a pilgrim from Bihar, rummaging through the pile of discarded items. As dawn broke over Prayagraj, the sirens began to fade, but the city remained haunted by one of the darkest nights of the Maha Kumbh.