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.

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.

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.

At least seven people were killed and around 10 injured in a pre-dawn stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in the northern Indian city of Prayagraj on Wednesday, an official said, the most auspicious day of the six-week Great Pitcher Festival.

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

Several people were feared dead and many more injured in a stampede early Wednesday as tens of thousands of Hindus rushed to take a holy bath in the river at the massive Maha Kumbh festival in northern India's Prayagraj city,

By Adnan Abidi and Saurabh Sharma PRAYAGRAJ, India (Reuters) -At least seven people were killed and around 10 injured in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India on Wednesday, said an official,