Dozens are feared to have died in multiple stampedes at India’s Kumbh Mela festival, as millions of Hindu devotees gathered for a ritual bath at the confluence of three sacred rivers.The crowd crush began at around 4am this morning at Prayagraj,

Hindu devotees and mystics have gathered in the northern Indian city of Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh festival, which is the largest religious congregation on Earth.

The Kumbh Mela is held every three years in four cities on the banks of sacred rivers across India. Devout Hindus believe that immersion in the sacred rivers absolves people of sins, and such dips during the Kumbh Mela also bring salvation from the cycle of life and death.