Commuters recall chaos during New Delhi Railway Station stampede that killed 18
When HT reached the spot, around 12.30 am, over a dozen ambulances, two dozen police vehicles and hundreds of security personnel was stationed inside and outside the station
New Delhi: In the hours following the stampede at New Delhi Railway Station on Saturday night, which killed 18 people, including five children, and left several others injured, the station remained tense, with the air filled with the sound of ambulances and a heavy police presence throughout the area.
When HT reached the spot, around 12.30 am, over a dozen ambulances, two dozen police vehicles and hundreds of security personnel was stationed inside and outside the station.
The entry and exit gates of the railway station were heavily guarded, and there was a heavy security presence at platforms 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16. The ticket counter was shut down, and railway announcements were suspended, which resumed only after 1:30 am.
Upendra Kumar, an auto driver on his night shift, recalled rushing to the platform to rescue a passenger he had earlier dropped off. “I’ve been driving an auto for the last 12 years in the New Delhi Railway Station area, but I’ve never witnessed such a crowd. People were running everywhere… even outside the station,” he told HT.
Several commuters recalled the horror that unfolded at the railway station just hours earlier, describing the chaos that unfolded when thousands of people gathered to board three Prayagraj-bound trains to attend the Maha Kumbh leaving at least 18 dead and several injured who were taken to hospitals.
“I saw hundreds of passengers being cleared from platforms 14, 15, and 16 an hour after the stampede,” said Pramod Kumar Singh, a passenger who was there to board a train to Bihar.
Another commuter, Manoj Shukla, recalled around 9.30 pm, he was stuck at the staircase leading to platform 15 due to the overcrowding. “I couldn’t reach the platform, but I saw people running across the tracks as soon as an announcement for the Magadh Express was made. People were piled on top of each other at the platform. There was no space to breathe... It was horrifying,” said Shukla, who was seated outside platform 14, wondering how he would make it to Prayagraj, when HT approached .
Railways officials said a crowd kept building up at platform number 14, from where the Prayagraj Express was set to depart. Two other Prayagraj-bound trains, the Swatantrata Senani Express and the Bhubaneshwar Rajdhani, which were set to leave from the station were delayed, which worsened the crowding.
Eyewitness Madhu Gupta, a Noida resident who managed to board the train to Prayagraj from platform 14, told HT that as soon as an announcement was made about a train arriving on platform 15, “there was confusion... Some thought the platform for the Prayagraj-bound train had changed. There was nobody to help; people were stuck to each other. People were trying to board the train from wherever they could. There was no space to breathe… I don’t know how my family and I survived and somehow managed to board the train,” said Gupta, who was travelling with her husband, two children, and a relative.
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By 3 am, hundreds of security personnel and railway staff had cleared platforms 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16.
Many passengers who survived the stampede lost their luggage and essential belongings.
23-year-old Naveen Kumar lost his luggage, mobile phone, and even his shoes. He was searching for the friends he had arrived with at the station, when HT approached him. “Till 10 pm, no help had arrived. Passengers and railway administration present helped with the rescue till then,” he said.
Kamlesh Singh, who was travelling to Bihar and missed his train, said, “We saw at least 20 people being carried out by rescuers, which caused even more commotion and chaos as news of the deaths began to spread at the station.” He recalled how children and women were the most affected in the stampede.
Another passenger, Vikas Thakur, 28, who was heading to Darbhanga and missed his train, said that a crowd began to gather from 7pm, and the number of police and railway staff present at the time was inadequate to manage such a crowd. “Between 9 and 10 pm, the station was left to handle itself; there wasn’t even an inch of space on the platforms,” he said, adding that his next train home would arrive in the morning, so he would wait outside the station.
“When Prayagraj Express was standing at platform number 14, a heavy crowd was present at the platform. Swatantrata Senani Express and Bhubaneshwar Rajdhani were delayed and passenger of these trains were also present at platform no. 12, 13 and 14. That’s why the crowd became uncontrollable,” said KPS Malhotra, DCP (Railways).