The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a judicial probe into the deaths of at least 30 people in stampedes at India’s Kumbh Mela festival, where millions of Hindu devotees gathered for a ritual bath at the confluence of three sacred rivers.

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.

Multiple casualties were feared after a stampede-like incident broke out at a Hindu religious festival, the Maha Kumbh Mela, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, India's The Hindu newspaper reported early hours,