Witnesses described a mass of people rushing to take a pre-dawn dip at the confluence of the three sacred rivers.

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.

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, officials said.

At least 30 people have been killed and dozens more injured in crowd crushes at the Maha Kumbh Mela in India, where millions have gathered to bathe at the confluence of sacred rivers.

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.