The Hindu pilgrims had gathered to take a dip in the
Godavari river at the start of the Maha Pushkaralu festival.
The stampede occurred at 08:00am (02:30 GMT) in the
Rajahmundry district.
Nearly 24 million pilgrims are expected to take part in
the 12-day festival. Pilgrims believe that taking a bath in the river will rid
them of their sins.
"The incident happened as the first set of
worshippers were coming out of the river after taking a dip and then got in the
way of others who wanted to be in the water at an auspicious time," AFP
news agency quoted senior police official A Srinivasan Rao as saying.
Deadly stampedes during religious gatherings are fairly
common in India.
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