MOSCOW, Jan 19: A Russian religious festival in which believers plunge through a hole in the ice to cleanse their sins went wrong on Monday when surrounding ice gave way under a crush of onlookers, emergency officials said.

Numerous onlookers had to be fished from the water after a crowd of over 1,000 gathered for the midnight Epiphany ceremony by the Volga River in the city of Tver and those in front were pushed onto the ice, which cracked under them.

There were no reports of casualties but divers were checking the river bed.

“We managed to pull over 20 people out of the water and the rest managed on their own. Afterwards a diving group checked the river bed and found no casualties and now, in the light, a further check is taking place,” an official at the emergency situations ministry told Interfax.

Interfax reported 70 people had fallen in the water.

Russian Orthodox believers traditionally plunge through a crucifix-shaped hole carved in the ice on a river or lake during the mid-winter Epiphany festival.

The outdoor temperature in the western Russian city of Tver when the incident occurred was minus eight degrees Celsius.—AFP