Indian officers stated the accident occurred amid a surge of passengers ready for trains to attend a serious Hindu non secular pageant.
Ten ladies and three youngsters have been amongst not less than 15 folks killed in a crowd crush at a prepare station in India’s capital New Delhi, as 1000’s of Hindu pilgrims waited to board trains to attend the annual Mahakumbh Mela non secular pageant.
The incident unfolded on Saturday night time at about 8pm native time (14:30 GMT) on two platforms on the New Delhi Railway Station as large crowds waited to board trains to Prayagraj metropolis, the place the pageant is being held, some 624km (387 miles) southeast of the capital.
Delhi’s Chief Minister Atishi, who solely makes use of one title, informed reporters that 15 folks had died, whereas the native information outlet NDTV reported that the demise toll was 18 folks.
India’s Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw stated 4 trains had been deployed to “evacuate” a sudden and unprecedented surge of travellers on the station and an investigation has been ordered to search out out what went flawed.
Excessive-level inquiry ordered https://t.co/Egaifp5Onx
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) February 15, 2025
Video footage shared on social media by native information organisations confirmed folks jostling as they tried to pressure their method onto packed prepare carriages.
“Individuals have been operating throughout platforms and there was a chaotic scenario that led to folks falling on one another,” a person who witnessed the occasions informed India’s ANI information company.
The Instances of India stated witnesses reported a “crowd surge” that was sparked by the delay of two trains which led to an unexpectedly massive variety of passengers ready on platforms. When folks rushed to board an arriving prepare, “the scenario spiralled uncontrolled, with some passengers fainting amid the sudden surge”, the media outlet reported.
“This sparked rumours of a stampede, resulting in additional panic,” it stated.
The Mahakumbh is the only largest milestone on the Hindu non secular calendar, and officers stated about 500 million devotees have already visited the pageant because it started in January.
Crowd crushes recurrently happen at India’s main non secular festivals.
A minimum of 30 folks have been killed in a crush on the Mahakumbh final month when tens of hundreds of thousands of Hindus gathered to wash in sacred river waters. The centrepiece of the six-week pageant is the ritual bathing on the level the place the Ganges and Yamuna merge with the legendary Saraswati River.
A minimum of 36 folks have been additionally crushed to demise in 2013, the final time the pageant was held in Prayagraj, and greater than 400 died after they have been trampled or drowned on a single day of the pageant in 1954.
India’s railway system, which is the fourth-largest prepare community on the earth, has additionally witnessed severe accidents within the final two years, together with a collision in 2023 that killed not less than 288 folks.
