- Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Many of the victims were pilgrims who were going to attend the Maha Kumbh Mela, which is currently on at Prayagraj
By: India Weekly
AT LEAST 18 people died during a stampede in New Delhi railway station late Saturday when surging crowds scrambled to catch trains to Prayagraj city, where the Maha Kumbh Mela is being hosted, officials and reports said.
The incident occurred around 9.55 pm on the two platforms and the dead included mostly women and children.
“I can confirm 15 deaths at the hospital. They don’t have any open injury. Most (likely died from) hypoxia or maybe some blunt injury but that would only be confirmed after an autopsy,” Dr Ritu Saxena, deputy medical superintendent of Lok Nayak Hospital in New Delhi told AFP.
“There are also 11 others who are injured. Most of them are stable and have orthopaedic injuries,” she said.
Broadcaster NDTV reported three more dead from the stampede quoting an official of another hospital in the city.
Media showed images and videos of crowds falling over each other at the station, following the incident, as police and relief teams toiled to ease the congestion.
Delhi’s chief minister Atishi said on X that many of the victims were pilgrims who were going to attend the Maha Kumbh.
In an official statement, the railway police said platform number 14 was already very crowded when the Prayagraj Express train was waiting for its departure.
The officer said the Swatantra Senani Express and Bhubaneshwar Rajdhani Express were delayed, and their passengers were also present on platform numbers 12, 13, and 14.
Prime minister Narendra Modi and some other federal ministers confirmed the stampede incident in posts on X without disclosing the death toll.
“Distressed by the stampede at New Delhi Railway Station. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones,” Modi said on X.
Home minister Amit Shah said in a post on X that he had spoken to the railway minister and taken stock of the situation.
An inquiry was ordered into the incident and four special trains were dispatched to evacuate the rush caused at the railway station, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on X.
First-person accounts
One of the passengers told reporters that his mother had died in the stampede.
He said, “We were travelling to our home in Chhapra, Bihar, in a group, but my mother lost her life in the chaos. People were pushing each other.”
He added, “The doctor has confirmed to us that my mother has died.”
Another family member of the deceased, a woman, collapsed in grief.
A rail passenger Dharmendra Singh told PTI, “I was going to Prayagraj but many trains were running late or were cancelled. The station was overcrowded.
“There were far more people than I have ever seen at this station. In front of me, six or seven women were taken away on stretchers.”
Another passenger, Pramod Chaurasia, said, “I had a sleeper-class ticket for Purushottam Express but even those with confirmed tickets could not board the train.
“One of my friends and a female passenger got stuck in the crowd. There was too much pushing and jostling. We managed to stay safe by waiting outside with our children.”
“I have been working as a coolie since 1981, but I never saw a crowd like this before,” the Times of India newspaper quoted a porter at the railway station as saying.
“People started colliding and fell on the escalator and stairs” when platform for a special train departing for Prayagraj was suddenly shifted, the porter said.
Previous stampedes
Dozens of people were killed in a pre-dawn stampede at the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj last month as tens of millions gathered to take a dip at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers, on the most auspicious day of a six-week festival.
India has witnessed several rail accidents in the last two years, including a collision in 2023 that killed at least 288 people.
Here is a list of major stampedes in India in the last five years during religious festivals or gatherings:
January 29, 2025: Dozens were killed in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh State, on one of the holiest days of the event as tens of millions of people gathered at the site in the world’s biggest gathering of humanity.
January 8, 2025: At least six people were killed and 35 injured in a stampede near Tirupati temple, in Andhra Pradesh, after thousands had assembled to secure free visit passes.
July 2024: Around 121 people died after thousands of devotees rushed to get a closer glimpse of a Hindu preacher in the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh.
January 2022: At least 12 died and more were injured in a stampede at the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir, after a huge crowd of devotees tried to enter the narrow shrine. (Agencies)
