A pre-dawn stampede at the world’s largest religious gathering killed at least 30 people in India on Wednesday, with many more injured after a surging crowd spilled out of a police cordon and trampled bystanders.

Deadly crowd incidents are a frequent occurrence at Indian religious festivals, including the Kumbh Mela, which attracts tens of millions of devotees every 12 years to the northern city of Prayagraj.

As pilgrims rushed to participate in a sacred day of ritual bathing, people sleeping and sitting on the ground near the rivers told AFP they were trampled by huge swells of devotees coming towards them in the darkness.

“Thirty devotees have unfortunately died,” senior police officer Vaibhav Krishna told reporters during an evening news conference at the festival. “Ninety injured were taken to the hospital.”

Krishna’s briefing came nearly 18 hours after the stampede and was the first official death toll given by authorities.