Prayagraj Mahakumbh Stampede | At mortuary, wait and despair: ‘Can’t go back without her — or her body’

There are many like him outside the mortuary of Moti Lal Nehru Medical College — husbands, daughters, sons, daughter-in-law, all here as a last resort after a fruitless day-long search for their loved ones. Those wanting to check the bodies are taken inside the gates. Many are forced to continue their search.

A number of ambulances begin to wind their way out with the bodies of victims that have been identified.

Officials stand with an ambulance inside the mortuary at Motilal Nehru Medical College after a stampede at Maha Kumbh Mela on Mauni Amavasya in Prayagraj. (Express photo by Chitral Khambhati)

At 8:05 pm, two ambulances leave with the bodies of two Jaunpur residents — 60-year-old Rampati Devi and her daughter-in-law Reeta Devi.

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“On the Mauni Amavasya Snan, between 1 and 2 am ahead of the Brahm Muhurta, huge crowd gathered on the Akhara route, because of which the… pic.twitter.com/rgauSELmhJ

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 29, 2025

Rampati’s daughter Shila Rajbhar, who is leaving for Jaunpur, says: “There was barricading everywhere. People were shouting at us to get out… Suddenly people came from everywhere, they were falling on each other and soon there was a pile of people over whom others were stepping over. We were also pushed aside by the crowd. My 60-year-old mother, on whose persuasion, we all had come, and my sister-in-law died.”

People look for their belongings after the stampede at the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj. (Source: Reuters)

At 8:43 pm, ambulance number 125 leaves with the body of a Gorakhpur resident while ambulance number 137 leaves for Bihar with one body.

At 9:23 pm, four more bodies are placed in two ambulances. They were part of a group of nine from Karnataka. Kanchan Koparde, part of this group, sits next to two bodies wrapped in white. One is that of her husband, the other her friend.  “We were going towards Sangam to take the holy dip. But before we could reach the confluence, at about 1:30 am, a crowd came rushing from the front. There was suddenly a stampede and everyone was falling over each other. It was difficult to save any person.”

The remainder of the group is leaving in an ambulance for Delhi and will take the bodies by flight to Karnataka.

Relatives of the dead victims are waiting for the bodies outside the postmortem house at SRM Medical College in Prayagraj. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

There is similar uncertainty at SRN Hospital, where the injured people were brought. Prabhat and Saroj Singh are waiting outside the emergency ward. Their son, 24-year-old Ravi Singh is inside. “There will be plastic surgery as he has seriously injured his jaw in the stampede,” informs his aunt.