New Delhi: Rumour mongering, trains running late by several hours, panic, and the announcement for a special train not reaching passengers—these were among the factors that culminated in the stampede at the New Delhi railway station (NDLS).
Eyewitness accounts, besides statements by police and railways officials, suggest the situation slipped out of hand first on platform 14 around 10 pm Saturday, and panic then spread to other adjoining platforms. At least 18 people, including five minors, lost their lives, and more than 20 others were injured, in the stampede at NDLS when hundreds of passengers were gathered there to board trains to Prayagraj to attend the Maha Kumbh.
The chaos unfolded near platforms 14 and 15, where overcrowding spiralled out of control due to delayed trains.
The Magadh Express, which passes through Prayagraj, departed from platform 14 at 9.18 pm, followed by the Prayagraj Express, a special train for the Maha Kumbh, which left at 10.17 pm. The stampede unfolded between the departure of these two trains.
The Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express, scheduled to depart from platform 11 at 5 pm, was running nearly 10 hours late, while the Swatantrata Senani Express, which was to leave from platform 13, was delayed by three hours. Since both trains pass through Prayagraj, thousands of passengers had gathered on the platforms, hoping to board them. With the delays stretching on for hours, the crowd swelled, and by the time the Magadh Express and Prayagraj Express arrived, the platforms were overwhelmed with people.
To control the rush, railway officials had blocked staircases leading to platforms 14 and 15, inadvertently trapping passengers who were trying to move in different directions. As more people kept arriving, the pressure intensified, triggering two stampedes—one on platform 14 and another near the escalator at platform 16.
A senior Delhi Police officer told ThePrint on condition of anonymity, “Bhubaneswar Rajdhani was already late by over five hours. The other train, Swatantrata Senani Express, was also running late. Then a special train was announced, but because of the excessive crowd, no one heard it properly, and they thought the destination was not Prayagraj.”
“Some were also injured as they tried to get into the trains and fell onto the tracks instead,” the officer added. Sources in the Delhi Police said even though 1,500 general tickets are sold every hour, the delays led to thousands gathering at the station.
“Additionally, new tickets were also being sold, so the crowd was more than capacity. The railway staff couldn’t manage the crowd. This happened due to mismanagement,” a second police source said.
The Ministry of Railways has ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident, while Indian Railways has announced a compensation of compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for next of kin of those killed in the stampede, besides a compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh each for those seriously injured and Rs 1 lakh each for those with minor injuries.
Meanwhile, bodies of the deceased were taken to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narain (LNJP) Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, and Lady Hardinge Medical College for post-mortem and later handed over the next of kin after viscera samples were preserved. DCP (Railways) K.P.S. Malhotra said inquest proceedings have been initiated.
Speaking to ThePrint, a morgue worker who did not wish to be named said, “They mostly died due to breathlessness. There weren’t many external injuries. There were blunt injuries in someone caused as one fell on another.”
Also Read: Broken jaw, punctured lung, Maha Kumbh stampede survivors say ‘touched cops’ feet but no one helped’
‘Saw what I never wanted to see’
Vikrant Chaudhary, who had travelled from Noida to see off his 55-year-old father, recalled the chaos. “I was trying to get to platform 13 for the Swatantrata Senani Express, which was scheduled for 9.15 am,” he told ThePrint. “But the crowd was massive. My father and I decided to move with it because crossing through was impossible.”
As they reached the staircase connecting platforms 14 and 15, the situation worsened.
“People were packed so tightly that no one could move up or down,” said Chaudhary. “I saw 50 to 100 people crushed beneath the weight of the crowd. People started shouting, struggling to breathe.”
Chaudhary described the horrifying moment when the stampede turned deadly. “Two or three people collapsed right in front of me. My father and I kept checking if we were still breathing,” he said. “I don’t know how he made it, but he did.”
As panic spread, the crowd recoiled, allowing Chaudhary to pull his father to safety. “I left my bag behind and just focused on getting him out,” he recalled. “I made him sit on the train platform until his train arrived at midnight and sent him off.” Hours later, Chaudhary returned to look for his lost belongings. “By then, everything had been cleared out,” he said. “I was lucky—I found my bag. But so many others lost much more than that.”
Sangeeta Sharma, a 47-year-old who had been living in Delhi for 20 years, was supposed to board a train to Patna at 9.05 pm. But as she stood on the platform, waiting, the chaos unfolded before her eyes. “I never saw my train … I only saw what I never wanted to see.”
The crowd was overwhelming, pushing and shoving in all directions. In front of her, four people collapsed. “They fell down, and they couldn’t get up,” she recalled. She saw others trying to help—some crying, some pulling others aside—but the panic was too overwhelming. At one point, an elderly man was dragged away in an attempt to save him.
Sangeeta, too, feared for her life. “There was no space to even stand. I thought if I stayed here any longer, people would fall on me,” she said.
She moved towards the railing, which was bending under the pressure of the crowd. “I don’t know what they did to it. After that, we just sat there, unable to move.”
Asked about when help arrived, she said: “The media came first.” Adding, “They were the first ones to start talking, making videos. Then the police came.”
Rush at NDLS had begun around 8 pm, and by 9 pm, the platforms were so packed that she knew she wouldn’t be able to board her train. “We decided to step aside,” she said. “When they started carrying bodies away, I knew I didn’t want to go anymore.”
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
Also Read: Crowd science isn’t a mystery. Kumbh stampede was preventable
Reel Minister, Mr. Ashwini Vaishnav, must resign at the earliest. He has been an absolute failure as far as the Ministry of Railways is concerned.
No Rail Minister in India has presided over so many accidents and so many deaths. Mr. Ashwini Vaishnav should be in Guiness Book of Records.