At least one person was killed and dozens of others were hospitalized after a sudden crowd surge during the annual Rath Yatra festival in India's eastern Odisha state on Thursday, authorities said.

The incident occurred in the coastal town of Puri, where tens of thousands of devotees had gathered for the centuries-old Hindu chariot festival, according to the Press Trust of India.

The Rath Yatra is one of the world's oldest and largest religious processions, during which idols of Hindu deities are taken out of the Jagannath Temple and paraded through the streets on elaborately decorated chariots.

Videos circulating on social media showed injured devotees being carried to hospitals while shoes, bags and other personal belongings lay scattered across the area after the crowd surge.

Odisha Police said rescue teams provided first aid and oxygen support to 33 injured people before transferring them to nearby hospitals for further treatment.

The latest incident comes a year after three people were killed and more than a dozen others were injured in a similar crowd surge during the same festival.

Crowd crushes are relatively common during major religious gatherings in India, where millions of devotees often assemble in confined spaces with limited crowd-control measures.

Last year in January, at least 30 people were killed during the Maha Kumbh festival when large numbers of pilgrims rushed to bathe in a sacred river.

In another major tragedy in 2013, at least 115 pilgrims died after panic broke out over fears that a bridge would collapse during a Hindu festival in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, leading to a deadly stampede and drownings.