Ten women and three children were among at least 15 people killed in a crowd crush at a train station in India’s capital New Delhi, as thousands of Hindu pilgrims waited to board trains to attend the annual Mahakumbh Mela religious festival.
The incident unfolded on Saturday night at about 8pm local time (14:30 GMT) on two platforms at the New Delhi Railway Station as huge crowds waited to board trains to Prayagraj city, where the festival is being held, some 624km (387 miles) southeast of the capital.
Delhi’s Chief Minister Atishi, who only uses one name, told reporters that 15 people had died, while the local news outlet NDTV reported that the death toll was 18 people.
India’s Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said four trains had been deployed to “evacuate” a sudden and unprecedented surge of travellers at the station and an investigation has been ordered to find out what went wrong.
Video footage shared on social media by local news organisations showed people jostling as they tried to force their way onto packed train carriages.
“People were running across platforms and there was a chaotic situation that led to people falling on each other,” a man who witnessed the events told India’s ANI news agency.
The Times of India said witnesses reported a “crowd surge” that was sparked by the delay of two trains which led to an unexpectedly large number of passengers waiting on platforms. When people rushed to board an arriving train, “the situation spiralled out of control, with some passengers fainting amid the sudden surge”, the media outlet reported.
United Arab Emirates Dirham Exchange Rate
