Haridwar, India - At least three people drowned as hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims took dips in the waters of the Ganges River on Wednesday during a festival in northern India, an official said.
The three fell from a bridge that crosses the river as authorities tried to control the surge of devotees following the procession of a Hindu religious sect leader, said Amit Chandola, a spokesman for the government of Uttrakhand state. The victims' bodies were later recovered from the river.
Nearly 8 million people converged on the banks of the river Wednesday for one of the most auspicious bathing days of the festival that ends April 28, said Chandola. Devout Hindus believe bathing in the Ganges will cleanse them of their sins and free them from the cycle of life and rebirth.
Thousands of police equipped with closed-circuit television were on alert for stampedes and made announcements on loudspeakers asking people to move in orderly lines to specially marked bathing areas along the river banks.
The Hindu festival began on Jan. 13 in Haridwar, a temple-filled town at the foothills of the Himalayas where the Ganges enters the sprawling plains of northern India.