The incident occurred when an express train and two local trains arrived at Santragachi station at the same time and people rushed to board them.
Kolkata: Two people were killed and at least 14 persons were injured in a “stampede-like situation” on a foot overbridge at Santragachi railway station in West Bengal on Tuesday evening, a South Eastern Railway spokesman said.
The incident occurred when an express train and two EMU locals arrived at the station at the same time at around 6.30 pm and passengers rushed to the platforms to board the trains, he said.
The Nagercoil-Shalimar Express and two EMU locals arrived at the station at the same time, while Shalimar-Vishakhapatnam Express and Santragachi-Chennai Express were scheduled to arrive shortly, SER spokesman Sanjay Ghosh said.
The incident occurred between platform numbers two and three at Santragachi station of South Eastern Railway, about 10 km from Howrah station, he said.
A large number of passengers either deboarded or were waiting to board trains at the same time, leading to a rush on the foot overbridge.
While 11 injured persons were taken to Howrah General Hospital for treatment, three others were administered first aid at the station, he said.
Several express trains stop at the station, apart from numerous EMU locals of SER.
Thousands of people use the station everyday since it is easier to travel to and from south and central Kolkata from Santragachi. – PTI
Am I being a paranoid in saying that I see more than a mere coincidence here — that a RAILWAY tragedy has occurred again, so close on the heels of one in Amritsar? I had given my humble two comments on THE PRINT why I thought that the Amritsar incident was a sabotage. In fact I had found it strange that MOS Railways Mr Manoj Sinha had given a clean chit to the driver within 24 hours of that horrific incident! I thought he should have been investigated even from psychological angle. That Amritsar ground must be a large premises and large gatherings must be a normal occurrence there — for political rallies, fairs etc. It SHOULD have been CUSTOMARY for drivers to drive with caution on that patch of their run. Merely stating that “railways wasn’t informed” for the Dussehra function sounded a hollow excuse.
And now we have another railways tragedy, this time in West Bengal! Am I being silly in saying that BOTH these incidents should be investigated from a sabotage angle?