Probe ordered after 30 deaths at world’s largest religious festival in India - Indian authorities have released an official statement on the death toll but it is expected to rise

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.

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.

Several people were feared dead after a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival, in northern India's Uttar Pradesh State on Wednesday, on one of the holiest days of the event as tens of millions of people gathered at the site.

Millions of Hindu pilgrims gathered in Prayagraj, India, for the Maha Kumbh Mela festival, but thousands were trampled after crowds surged toward the confluence of two rivers.