At least 17 people were killed and many more injured in a stampede at India's Maha Kumbh festival, the world's largest religious gathering, a doctor at a government hospital said, as tens of thousands of pilgrims rushed to dip in sacred river waters during the Hindu event.

Several people were injured in the stampede at the Maha Kumbh, and many families have been separated amid the chaos.

Several people are feared dead after a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela Uttar Pradesh Prayagraj on Wednesday as scores of people turned up for a holy dip in the Ganga on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya.

The late release of casualty figures at the gathering of millions of people was seen as shielding the political fortunes of a local leader with national aspirations.

A tragic stampede at the Maha Kumbh festival in northern India has left several people dead and many others injured.

Swarming throngs of devotees bathed in rivers at the world's biggest religious gathering in India on Thursday, undeterred by a stampede a day earlier that killed at least 30 people.

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.