In short:
Overcrowding and a lack of exits contributed to a stampede that killed at least 121 people in northern India, one of the deadliest such accidents in recent years.
Police said more than three times the permitted number of people attended the event and most of the victims were women.
What's next?
Police have launched a search for the event's organisers, whose whereabouts were not known.
At least 121 people have died in a stampede after a large religious gathering in northern India, one of the deadliest such accidents in recent years.
Police said more than three times the permitted number of people attended the event and most of the victims were women.
The stampede among thousands of attendees is believed to have begun as the event, led by a Hindu guru known locally as Bhole Baba, was ending.
What happened?
Authorities believe massive overcrowding, insufficient exits, bad weather and other factors may have contributed to the high death toll.
The event was held in a large tent in a village in Hathras district, located in Uttar Pradesh state, amid sweltering heat and high humidity.
"Initial reports suggest that the closed enclosure of the tent led to suffocation, causing discomfort and panic among attendees," said senior police officer Shalabh Mathur.
Poor planning was another issue. Some 250,000 people turned up for the event, which was permitted for 80,000 and held in a muddy field.
As the preacher descended from the stage, officials said, devotees surged forward to touch him, causing chaos as volunteers struggled to intervene.
An initial police report suggested thousands of people then thronged toward the exits.
Many slipped on the muddy ground, falling and being crushed by the crowds.
Witnesses described further chaos as more devotees tried to follow the preacher as he left in his car.
His security personnel pushed the crowd back, causing more people to fall, according to officials.
Most of the dead were women.
Who is Bhole Baba?
The Hindu guru's name is Suraj Pal, but he goes by Bhole Baba.
He is a Dalit, a group at the bottom of India's caste pyramid, and many of his followers are also from lower castes, female and poor.
While not a household name nationally, he enjoys a large following in Uttar Pradesh and nearby states.
Now in his 60s, he's known for dressing in all white, often sporting mirrored aviator sunglasses.
Bhole runs two ashrams in Uttar Pradesh and holds weekly religious gatherings, known as satsangs, where he often talks about leading a simple and virtuous life.
Police have launched a search for Bhole and other organisers, whose whereabouts were not known.
Police registered a case of culpable homicide against two organisers, but excluded the preacher.
AP Singh, an attorney representing the preacher, blamed some "anti-social elements" for disrupting the peace and creating chaos, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Mr Singh said Bhole had never asked anyone to touch his feet nor did he give anyone the dust touched by his feet, referring to reports in local media which cited these as reasons for the devotees running towards him.
"The preacher is ready to cooperate with state authorities and the police," local media quoted Mr Singh as saying in an interview.
The state's Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said a judicial inquiry would be conducted into the incident, besides the police investigation, to determine who was responsible.
How common are stampedes in India?
Deadly crowd surges are fairly common in India, especially during religious festivals where huge gatherings, sometimes in the millions, are held often in cramped areas with shoddy infrastructure and few safety measures.
There have been a number of stampedes in India over the past two decades. Many religious events are organised without adequate preparations, crowd control measures or even prior permission, said Sanjay Srivastava, a disaster management expert.
"Often such functions are held so regularly that sometimes police don't check whether guidelines are being followed," he said.
The event on Tuesday violated general safety norms, Mr Srivastava added.
"The function was held in a makeshift tent without ensuring multiple exit routes. Typically, there should be eight to 10 well-marked exits opening into open areas," he said.
State official Ashish Kumar said there were insufficient exits in the vast tent. It's not clear how many there were.
One of the last major stampedes occurred in 2013, when pilgrims visiting a temple for a popular Hindu festival in central Madhya Pradesh state trampled each other amid fears that a bridge would collapse.
At least 115 were crushed to death or died in the river.
ABC/wires