Several people were feared dead after a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela or Great Pitcher Festival in north India's Uttar Pradesh State on Wednesday, as tens of millions gathered to take a holy dip on the six-week long event's most significant day.
Drone footage showed millions of devotees, shoulder to shoulder, arriving in the pre-dawn dark for the holy dip to mark most auspicious day of the Maha Kumbh Mela.
Video and photographs after the stampede showed bodies being stretched away, people sitting on the ground crying, while others stepped over a carpet of discarded belongings left by people as they tried to escape the stampede.
A Reuters witness saw several dead bodies as he followed dozens of ambulances rushing towards the river bank where the incident occurred.