Dozens of people are feared to have died in crowd crushes at India’s Kumbh Mela festival, local officials at the scene have said, as vast crowds of people went to bathe at one of the holiest sites of the Hindu gathering.

People were crushed in the early hours of Wednesday as tens of millions of people flocked to immerse themselves in the sacred confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, on one of the most auspicious days of the Hindu festival.

According to accounts by devotees, one of the worst crushes occurred after large numbers went down to the river to bathe, while others were sleeping on the floor around the congested riverbank.

As the crowd surged in multiple directions, people began to push their way out and many began to fall to the floor, pushing over barriers and trampling each other. Another crowd crush was reported to have taken place around one of the entrances to the festival.