By Adnan Abidi, Saurabh Sharma and Shivam Patel PRAYAGRAJ, India (Reuters) -Nearly 40 bodies were brought to a hospital morgue after a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India on Wednesday, three police sources told Reuters,

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.

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.

By Saurabh Sharma and Shivam Patel PRAYAGRAJ, India (Reuters) -Dozens of people were killed in a pre-dawn stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India on Wednesday, police sources and a Reuters witness said,

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.

PRAYAGRAJ, India (Reuters) - Nearly 40 bodies were brought to a hospital morgue near the site of a stampede at the Maha Kumbh festival in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, three police sources told Reuters.

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.