A sea of heaving, towel-waving humanity swarmed a black image of a cross-bearing Jesus Christ in Manila on Tuesday as the Catholic faithful joined one of the nation’s largest religious festivals.

In a frenzied display of religious fervor, men, women and children climbed over heads and shoulders and flung themselves at the centuries-old Black Nazarene that they say is miraculous.

TRASLACION 2018 It was a day of frenzy and chaos as throngs of devotees converged to mark the feast of the Black Nazarene on Tuesday. In uppermost left photo, a woman hangs from the cross of the Black Nazarene as others attempt to clamber up the carriage bearing the ebony icon of Jesus Christ. At right, devotees move a woman who fainted at the start of the procession at Rizal Park. Spectators watch the procession perched on a tree, or on the sidewalk. An aerial shot (bottom, left) shows hundreds of thousands of devotees, most of them barefoot, cross a bridge in Manila. PHOTOS BY RENE H. DILAN, RUSSEL PALMA, BOY JOSUE, MARY DAGOY AND AFP

More than

On top of the 700 treated by the Red Cross, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) reported that it had provided medical assistance to 334 devotees for various injuries: 238 of them for hypertension, 82 for various ailments, and 10 for minor injuries.

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Four pregnant women were also treated by personnel from the MMDA Road Emergency Group from January 7 up to the morning of January 9 before the traslacion.

Nineteen-year-old Ma. Remedios Mendoza fainted after a male devotee accidentally elbowed her stomach while she was trying to inch her way to touch the 50-meter rope that pulled the andas or carriage of the Nazareno.

She lost consciousness, and other devotees did not notice her and even stepped on her body. Good Samaritans pulled her and rushed her to Red Cross personnel.

The fences of the Intramuros Golf Course were used by male devotees to relieve themselves, and gave a stench.

The decorative greenery at the center island were also destroyed by the devotees who stepped on them while trying to reach the andas.

WITH RAADEE S. SAUSA, JING VILLAMENTE, JAMES GALVEZ AND ASHLEY ERIKA JOSE