Tens of thousands of people at a massive religious gathering in India rushed to take a holy bath in the country’s northern Prayagraj city, setting off a stampede early Wednesday that has injured dozens.

A crowd crush has injured several people at the world’s largest religious festival in India, organizers reported Wednesday.

Millions continued to throng the site even as police urged them to avoid the area. Deadly stampedes are relatively common around Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small areas.

More than seven people were killed and around 10 injured in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India on Wednesday, said an official, as tens of millions gathered to take a holy dip on the most auspicious day of the six-week Hindu festival.

A barrier broke during a holy bath in the city of Prayagraj injuring several devotees, the report said. The Maha Kumbh Mela or Great Pitcher Festival is the world's largest single gathering of humanity and is held every 12 years.

Hindu devotees and mystics have gathered in the northern Indian city of Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh festival, which is the largest religious congregation on Earth

Dozens of worshippers are feared dead and many more injured following a stampede or crush Wednesday at the massive Kumbh Mela religious festival in northern India, according to officials.

A stampede at the world's largest religious gathering in India killed at least 15 people with many more injured, a doctor at the Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj told AFP Wednesday. More than 400 people died after being trampled or drowned at the Kumbh Mela on a single day of the festival in 1954,

A stampede injured dozens of people early Wednesday as tens of thousands of Hindus rushed to take a holy bath in the river at the massive Maha Kumbh festival in northern India, local media reported.