PRAYAGRAJ, India (Kyodo) -- A once-in-12-year Hindu festival, Maha Kumbh, the world's largest religious gathering, is being held in Prayagraj, northern India, drawing people of faith from across the country and abroad.

Even after a stampede on Wednesday that killed at least 30 people, devotees continued to gather at the event, which began on Jan. 13 at the confluence of three rivers considered sacred -- the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati revered in Hindu scripture.

The stampede happened on one of the auspicious days for taking a holy bath in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, despite crowd management measures by police.

Senior police officer Vaibhav Krishna, in charge of the festival's security, told reporters that about 90 injured people were taken to the hospital, with 30 dying after barricades collapsed under the pressure of a massive crowd, causing a rush that led to trampling.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences on Wednesday in a post on X, calling the tragedy "extremely sad." He said he had spoken with the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, who is overseeing efforts to assist the victims.

Many social media comments blamed local and central governments for not doing enough to prevent the crowd accident. India saw another deadly stampede at a Hindu gathering in July in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, which killed more than 120 people.

According to Maha Kumbh's official X account, more than 275 million people had taken a dip in the confluence as of Wednesday. Around 400 million are expected to visit during the 45-day celebration.

Uttar Pradesh is a stronghold of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Modi's BJP government has pursued Hindu-centered politics and built a controversial Hindu temple on the site of a 16th-century mosque in the state.

In a Jan. 13 post on X, as Maha Kumbh began its run through Feb. 26, Modi called the first day special for tens of millions of "people who cherish Indian values and culture."

Maha Kumbh, also known as Kumbh Mela, was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2017. According to legend, bathing in the sacred rivers during Maha Kumbh cleanses one of all sins and grants salvation.

Pankaj Budholiya, a 38-year-old property dealer from the western state of Maharashtra, said on Jan. 13 that he came with his friends, and they all filled bottles with sacred water from the Ganges to take home, saying, "We all are feeling very blessed and purified after bathing here."

Hindus made up nearly 80 percent of India's population, according to the country's last census in 2011. With more than 1.4 billion people, India is the world's most populous country, according to U.N. estimates in 2024.

(By Ashish Nijhawan)