A woman from Palamu lost her life in a stampede that broke out at the Sangam in the early hours of Wednesday amid the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj. The incident took place after a large number of pilgrims gathered for a holy dip on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya.
The deceased woman has been identified as 60- year old Gayatri Devi, wife of Amresh Pandey, residents of Tolra village under Rehala police station area of Palamu district. The son of the deceased woman is deployed with the CRPF at the Kumbh.
According to the information received, Amresh Pandey left for Prayagraj with his wife Gayatri Devi and relatives on Monday to take a bath in the Maha Kumbh and reached the venue on Tuesday afternoon. The group decided to spend the night on the banks of the Triveni Sangam- confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati on Tuesday night before taking a dip at dawn on the auspicious occasion of Mauni Amavasya. Meanwhile, a stampede suddenly broke out on late Tuesday night and Gayatri Devi got buried and died.
In the stampede, Gayatri Devi’s sister who had also accompanied her- Tetri Devi, a resident of Garhwa has been seriously injured.
As per reports, one of the reasons for the tragedy was the surge of pilgrims who were all driven by an obvious desire to take the holy dip at 3 am, the start of the auspicious hour on Mauni Amavwasya. Most of the pontoon bridges were also closed for the Amrit Snan. As devotees were heading back from the same route from which the others were approaching, people got stuck in the barricades and fell.
After the accident, more than 70 ambulances reached Sangam and took the injured and the dead to the hospital. NSG commandos took charge of the area and entry of common people was stopped. To prevent the crowd from increasing, devotees have been stopped in the districts adjoining Prayagraj while the administration there has been informed.