At least 18 people died and another 15 were injured in a stampede at the main railway station in India’s capital New Delhi on Saturday night, the chief minister of the capital territory told reporters early on Sunday.
The incident occurred around 8pm local time on two platforms as passengers waited to board trains to Prayagraj city, where the Hindu Maha Kumbh festival is being hosted, media reports said.
The youngest of the victims was seven years old and the oldest 79, according to multiple media outlets, citing a list provided by police. All but four of the 18 people named were female.
Media showed images and videos of crowds falling over each other at the station following the incident, as police and relief teams worked to ease the congestion.
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“There was a sea of humanity at the railway station, and the crowd surged towards the train going to Prayagraj,” a distraught woman told the India Today news channel. “I lost my belongings and barely survived.”
Delhi’s chief minister Atishi, who uses only one name, said on X that many of the victims were pilgrims who were going to attend the Maha Kumbh.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and 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.
India’s interior minister Amit Shah said in a post on X that he had spoken to the railway minister and taken stock of the situation.
An investigation was ordered into the incident and four special trains were dispatched to evacuate passengers from the railway station, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on X, adding that the situation is now under control.
“The entire team is working to assist all those who have been affected by this tragic incident,” he said.
Dozens of people were killed in a pre-dawn stampede at the Maha Kumbh in northern India last month as tens of millions of Hindus gathered to take a dip in sacred river waters on the most auspicious day of a six-week festival.
Delhi’s lieutenant-governor VK Saxena, one of the capital territory’s top officials, also visited the hospital to meet those injured in Saturday’s incident, local media showed.
“This is a very tragic incident and we pray for those who have lost their lives,” Atishi said.
India has witnessed several rail accidents in the last two years, including a collision in 2023 that killed at least 288 people.
Indian railways is the fourth largest train network in the world and is undergoing a $30 billion upgrade as part of Modi’s push to boost connectivity. – Reuters
