Hindu devotees have sacred marks reading 'Radhe' on their foreheads at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the Saraswati rivers during the 45-day-long Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj, India, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. Credit: AP/Ashwini Bhatia

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.

A stampede at the world's largest religious gathering in India killed at least 15 people with many more injured, a doctor at the Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj told AFP Wednesday. More than 400 people died after being trampled or drowned at the Kumbh Mela on a single day of the festival in 1954,