A senior police officer said at least 30 people died as a crowd panicked at the Hindu Kumbh Mela mega-festival in the northern city of Prayagraj.

People were trampled as pilgrims at the Maha Kumbh Mela, one of the world’s biggest gatherings, gathered where the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers meet.

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

PRAYAGRAJ, India — At least 30 people were killed and many more injured in a stampede at the world’s largest religious gathering early Wednesday, police said, as millions of pilgrims rushed to dip in sacred waters during the Maha Kumbh festival in northern India.

The Hindu festival that turned deadly in northern India on Wednesday is a religious gathering with deep spiritual meaning for devotees who come by the millions to take a cleansing dip in waters they consider sacred.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Tens of thousands of people at a massive religious gathering in India rushed to take a holy bath in the country's northern Prayagraj city, setting off a stampede early Wednesday that injured dozens, local media reported.

Millions of devout Hindus thronged the northern Indian city of Prayagraj on Thursday for the Maha Kumbh festival, a day after dozens died in a stampede on the most auspicious day of the six-week event.