A massive fire broke out Friday at India's ongoing mega Hindu festival Maha Kumbh Mela in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh destroying over 20 makeshift tents, officials said.

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.

More than seven people were killed in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival, in the northern Indian holy city of Prayagraj on Wednesday.

The Hindu festival that turned deadly in northern India on Wednesday is a religious gathering with deep spiritual meaning for devotees who come by the millions to take a cleansing dip in waters they consider sacred.

Several people are feared dead and many more injured as tens of thousands of Hindus rushed to take a holy bath in the river at the massive Maha Kumbh festival in India

Millions of Hindus are gathering in a northern Indian city for the Maha Kumbh festival, the world's largest religious congregation. People take a series of ritual baths at the confluence

Ritual bathing at the confluence of large rivers has long held special significance in Hindu rituals. Sangam, where the Ganga and Yamuna are believed to meet the fabled Saraswati, is the most revered.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended on Wednesday the Hindu festival Kumbh Mela in northern India and immersed himself in the confluence of the sacred Ganges and Yamuna rivers, where a stampede claimed the lives of 30 people and left nearly a hundred injured a week ago.

Kumbh Mela, often called the world’s largest human gathering, is underway in northern India. DW explores a key highlight of the festival, where the sadhus — holy men, revered for their spiritual devotion,