Transcript of At least 12 feared dead in crush at India's Kumbh Mela festival | BBC News

Well, hello there, and welcome to BBC News with me, Lekwesa Burak. We begin the program with the breaking news this hour and the crush that has taken place at a huge Hindu religious festival. At least a dozen people have reportedly been killed. The accident happened when pilgrims who were sleeping by the river banks of the Praya Graj were trampled by others who had taken a dip in the waters. Organizers say that tens of millions of people are expected to attend Wednesday's Bathing Day at the Maha Kumbh Mela, one of the world's biggest religious festivals. Let's show you the latest live pictures from the scene. This is it. You can see just a glimpse of the numbers, the sheer number of people. This is just one site. This is an area that spans some 40 square kilometers, but as we heard there, place host to tens of millions of people. Now, just to give you some quick background, the incident actually took place between 1: 00 AM and 2: 00 AM local time. That means it would have taken place in the dark as pilgrims were trying to jump over police barricades to reach the point where India's most sacred river, the Ganges, meets the Yamuna, and what is known the mythical Sarawaswati Rivers.

We're also getting reports locally from a number of our correspondence, including Samira Hussain, who is at the site, that media are not being allowed inside one of the hospitals which is reportedly treating some of those that are injured. Vikash Pande is reporting from the area and says that the main One hospital at the Kumela has been turned into what he describes as a fortress. You can see pictures of some of those ambulances outside the hospital. They've been entering but also exiting the premises the entire morning reports at Wikus, but no one, including the media, is being allowed to enter the hospital. We're also getting reports from the AFP news agency of allegations of mismanagement at the festival itself. Of course, we're going to get a lot more of this discussion in terms of blame and the cause of the crush over the coming hours and I'm sure days. Well, our correspondence, Samira Hussain, who I said is at the scene, has been able to send us this update.

Just take a look at the amount of stuff that is left behind here on the ground. I see shoes, I see blankets, empty water bottles, backpacks, a whole number of people's belongings that have just been left behind. Now, what witnesses have told us is that there were just hundreds and hundreds of people sleeping here on the river banks. Just over this way is the main bathing area where everyone wants to take a dip in the holy waters. And there were such a crush of people that they came over this way. And as ever in this a crowd, one person gets pushed, and it ended up that people got trapped. We saw bodies being taken away from here on stretchers. There's no official word on the number of people that are scared dead or the number of people that are injured. What's also remarkable here is that just as quickly as that entire situation was cleared away, you now see that there are so many thousands of people that have now come through here again. Because ultimately, this was about faith for so many people. That is what has brought them here. And so they are still determined to go and take a dip in those holy waters.

So Samira Hussain is at the scene, and she joins us live now. So Samira, thank you for joining us. I can imagine just how frantic things are locally. But I'm just looking at the scene behind you, and we just heard you there describe that people are continuing to come to the scene.

Absolutely, because if you think about it, this is a festival that happens once every 12 years. And so millions of devotes have come from all across the country. In terms of disseminating information, sometimes it's actually really hard for people to know what's happening on one part of the Mela Grounds to another. To give you a little bit geography, just down this way is where that crush of people happened. But this entire area is about 40 square kilometers large. It's really hard to control these kinds of numbers. People still want to come because remember, this is a religious festival. After all, it is faith that has been driving these millions of people to come here and to take a dip.

Okay, so talking about getting information and disseminating information, is that being received from both local and national officials?

There is certainly a lot of pressure being put on officials. Everyone is asking the question when it comes to what exactly are the numbers of those that are dead and what are injured. If you look at Indian media, and if you look at... It just runs the gamut. We can report It's a report that we've seen a dozen bodies being taken out of that particular area. On my own count, in fact, we saw people coming out on stretchers, and we saw people on the ground. There's, of course, one part of that is trying to get accurate numbers, but then, of course, there's going to be the accountability. Look, organizers have been planning for this event for several months. We even spent time in the control room area where they're monitoring some 2,700 feeds. But how is it with all of those capabilities that something like this still happened?

Okay, on that point, Samira, I was going to say, so you've described there how there was an immense amount of planning, and certainly, officials had the time to put that planning in action. I wonder if we could just show the scene of the people moving. This is the live shot. Hopefully, we can bring that up for you. Samira, what measures are in place on on the ground in terms of barriers, in terms of people on the ground guiding people? Because to be honest with you, it just looks like a free for all.

The way it was One of the organizers had explained it to me was that because they have so many of these cameras put up absolutely everywhere around the city, what they wanted to do was to be able to prevent any blockades before they happen. Forfor example, they would have cameras set up at the train station. If there was a large crowd at the train station, well, then they would set up barriers to try and disperse the crowds. They would get people, get police officers to help and disperse the crowds. That was part of the crowd management. The head of the police that was in charge of this, well, what he said to me is that crowd management actually happens far before any incident like this can happen. But again, when you're talking these millions and millions of people and you start blocking off ways for people to get to the holy waters, people inevitably get upset. In some cases, we saw that barriers were being breached, whether it was people that were climbing over them or just breaking through them altogether.

Okay, I think I can just see it looks like security staff certainly walking in that scene there that we've put up for our viewers. Let's to the injured and where they're being treated. There were reports earlier that a lot of people attending this festival may not necessarily have had phones. I'm just wondering with reports as we're broadcasting on our BBC news website that access to hospitals being used to injure, to treat those who are injured. Has this news generally got out to those attending the festival and for other families further afield?

It is a monumental task to try and reunite people that have been separated, and they have these centers that have been set up all along the Mela site. That's one challenge on a normal circumstance. But in this circumstance, for people to try and get information about their loved ones that have gone to a hospital, that sets up a whole other challenge. That's certainly a question that's being put to officials. Look, there are several hospitals around the city, and the injured had been taken to them. Whether or not they're going to be able to reunite with their loved ones is, of course, a question.