What caused the Allahabad stampede? All we know so far

A stampede at the Allahabad Railway Station on Sunday night left 39 dead and many injured, creating a cloud around the Kumbh Mela. Here are some facts about the tragic incident: *****An estimated 30 million people had descended in Allahabad to take bath at Kumbh Mela on Sunday, making it the largest gathering of humanity on a single day ever in human history. Officials say the problem arose when many of them tried to leave on the same day. [caption id=“attachment_620765” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI[/caption] *****Though still not clearly known, reports by PTI suggests that several eyewitnesses said there was a lathicharge by the police that compounded the panic but Divisional Railway Manager Harinder Rao claimed passengers were not baton charged. *****Another report blames the collapse of a foot overbridge, although Railway Minister Pawan Bansal has said that this is not the case. *****The bodies of some of the victims shrouded in white cloth were kept at the platform for several hours. *****Passengers at Allahabad station complained that the crowds have not reduced and there are still no announcements about how trains are functioning. * There was chaos outside the hospital where relatives of victims attempted to claim the bodies. Fourteen bodies are yet to be identified. *****The prime minister has announced Rs 1 lakh for the kin of those who died in the stampede. The government will also give Rs 50,000 to people who have been seriously injured and Rs 25,000 to people with minor injuries. *****As many as 220 special trains will be deployed to Allahabad to clear the backlog of commuters trying to leave the city after the Maha Kumbh. There is still a huge crowd at platforms 4 and 6 of the Allahabad Railway Station. * Azam Khan, the head of the Kumbh Mela Organising Committee resigned over the incident. He said that although the incident took place at the railway station which was out of his purview, he still took moral responsibility for the stampede. * UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has constituted a committee to probe the stampede and expressed regrets over the loss of lives in the tragedy. In a subsequent press conference, a government official said that the probe would take a month, and appealed to anyone with footage or pictures of the incident to submit them to the Allahabad police to aid them in their investigation.