Dozens of people were killed in a pre-dawn stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India yesterday, police sources and a Reuters witness said, as tens of millions gathered to take a dip in sacred river waters on the most auspicious day of a six-week Hindu festival.

State authorities said at least 30 people were killed and 60 were injured in the pre-dawn stampede. Three police sources and a Reuters witness put the toll at nearly 40.

Reuters counted 39 bodies inside the morgue of the local hospital. One of the three police sources and a fourth officer said all 39 were stampede victims. All three police sources said nearly 40 bodies had been brought to the morgue.

Bodies were still being brought to the Moti Lal Nehru Medical College hospital morgue more than 12 hours after the tragedy at the world's biggest gathering of humanity.

"More bodies are coming in. We have nearly 40 bodies here. We are transferring them out as well and handing over to families one by one," one of the sources said.

Senior police officer Vaibhav Krishna told reporters that 90 people were taken to the hospital after the stampede, of whom 30 died and the rest were being treated.

Opposition parties blamed the stampede on what they called the government's "mismanagement" and "VIP culture".

"VIP culture should be curbed and the government should make better arrangements to meet the needs of common devotees," Rahul Gandhi, leader of main opposition Congress party, said on X, referring to politicians and celebrities being treated differently.

Distraught relatives queued up to identify those killed by the stampede, which occurred when crowds surged towards the confluence of three rivers, where immersion is considered particularly sacred.

Some witnesses spoke of a huge push that caused devotees to fall on each other, while others said closure of routes to the water brought the dense crowd to a standstill and caused people to collapse due to suffocation.

An official at Prayagraj's SRN Hospital, where some of the injured were taken, said those who died had either suffered heart attacks or had comorbidities like diabetes.

"People came in with fractures, broken bones...Some collapsed on the spot and were brought dead," said the official, who did not want to be named.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to "devotees who have lost their loved ones", without specifying the number of dead.