STORY: More than 36 hours after a deadly stampede at India's Maha Kumbh Mela festival claimed dozens of lives, distraught relatives frantically searched hospitals and mortuaries for missing loved ones.

LUCKNOW: Amid Mauni Amavasya tragic stampede at the Sangam Ghat claiming 30 lives and leaving 60 injured, reports have emerged about another stampede that took place in Jhunsi area across the confluence of the three rivers.

Many were feared dead after millions of Hindu pilgrims at a huge Hindu festival in India rushed to bathe in holy river waters.

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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.

Officials had been preparing for months for the world’s largest religious festival, with around 400 million Hindu pilgrims expected to take part

More than seven people were killed in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival, in the northern Indian holy city of Prayagraj on Wednesday.

Moments before a deadly stampede at the world's biggest religious gathering in India, Hindu devotees queuing to take a spiritual bath in a river said they pleaded with police to open barricaded routes to thin out a surging crowd.

At least 30 people have been killed and dozens more injured in crowd crushes at the Maha Kumbh Mela in India, where millions have gathered to bathe at the confluence of sacred rivers.

A stampede broke out at the ongoing mega Hindu religious gathering of Mahakumbh in India’s Prayagraj during the early hours of Wednesday, reportedly killing dozens, as tens of millions of devotees descended on the holy city to bathe on Mauni Amavasya- the most sacred bathing day of the festival.

A police guard who did not want to be identified said a second stampede had occurred but "help reached in time" and the situation was contained. Senior police officers did not res