At least 27 people were killed on Tuesday in a stampede in southern India, just hours after the start of Maha Pushkaralu, a religious festival held every 144 years.
The stampede occurred at 08:00am (02:30 GMT) about a quarter-mile from the Godavari's banks as tens of thousands of people pushed forward to bathe in the Godavari River on the first day of the Pushkaralu festival, according to The New York Times.
"The incident happened as the first set of worshippers were coming out of the river after taking a dip and then got in the way of others who wanted to be in the water at an auspicious time," AFP news agency quoted senior police official A.Srinivasan Rao as saying.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu, who bathed in the river at the festival on Tuesday morning, said in a series of tweets that he was monitoring the situation and urged people not to panic. His office later announced that families of those killed would receive 1 million rupees (about $16,000) in compensation.
Nearly 24 to 40 million pilgrims are expected to take part in the 12-day festival. Pilgrims believe that taking a bath in the river will rid them of their sins, according to BBC News.
Deadly stampedes during religious gatherings are fairly common in India, The Christian Science Monitor reports.
Since 2008, there have been seven stampedes that killed at least 18 people, two of which killed more than 100. In 2013, 36 people died at the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in the northern city of Allahabad, another festival held on the banks of a sacred river every 144 years.
