The late release of casualty figures at the gathering of millions of people was seen as shielding the political fortunes of a local leader with national aspirations.

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.

At least 17 people were killed and many more injured in a stampede at India's Maha Kumbh festival, the world's largest religious gathering, a doctor at a government hospital said, as tens of thousands of pilgrims rushed to dip in sacred river waters during the Hindu event.

Millions of devout Hindus thronged the northern Indian city of Prayagraj on Thursday for the Maha Kumbh festival, a day after dozens died in a stampede on the most auspicious day of the six-week event.

People were trampled as pilgrims at the Maha Kumbh Mela, one of the world’s biggest gatherings, gathered where the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers meet.

Authorities had expected a record 100 million people to visit Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh, or "festival of the Sacred Pitcher", on Wednesday.

Chaos erupts at Kumbh Mela as a stampede claims dozens of lives, overshadowing the world’s largest religious gathering in India #Stampede

STORY: An Indian official says multiple people were killed and several more injured in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in northern India on Wednesday.The Kumbh festival has been called the largest gathering of humanity and tens of millions of people attend it every year.