15 dead in India stampede to catch trains to Hindu festival

At least 15 people died during a stampede at a railway station in India's capital late Saturday when surging crowds scrambled to catch trains to the world's largest religious gathering, a medical official told AFP.

The Kumbh Mela attracts tens of millions of Hindu faithful every 12 years to the northern city of Prayagraj and has a history of crowd-related disasters — including one last month, when at least 30 people died in another stampede at the holy confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.