At least 18 people were killed in a stampede at a railway station in India’s capital late Saturday, as crowds rushed to catch trains bound for the world’s largest religious gathering, officials and reports confirmed.
The Kumbh Mela, a massive Hindu festival held every 12 years in the northern city of Prayagraj, attracts tens of millions of devotees. The event has a history of deadly crowd-related incidents, including a stampede last month that claimed at least 30 lives at the holy confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
The stampede in New Delhi occurred as crowds struggled to board trains for the ongoing event, which will conclude on February 26.
“I can confirm 15 deaths at the hospital. There are no visible injuries. The victims likely died from hypoxia or blunt trauma, though the cause of death will be confirmed after autopsies,” Dr. Ritu Saxena, deputy medical superintendent at Lok Nayak Hospital in New Delhi, told AFP.
“There are also 11 others who are injured. Most are stable and have orthopedic injuries,” she added.
Broadcaster NDTV reported an additional three deaths, citing an official from another hospital in the city. Most of the victims were women and children.
“I’ve been working as a porter since 1981, but I’ve never seen a crowd like this before,” a railway worker told the Times of India. “People collided and fell on the escalator and stairs when the platform for a special train to Prayagraj was suddenly changed.”
Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that a “high-level inquiry” would investigate the cause of the accident. He also confirmed that additional special trains were being dispatched from New Delhi to help manage the crowd.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his distress over the tragedy. “My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured,” he wrote on X.
The governor of Delhi, Vinai Kumar Saxena, stated that disaster management teams had been deployed and all hospitals were prepared for any emergencies.
The six-week Kumbh Mela is one of the most significant events in the Hindu religious calendar, and officials reported that around 500 million devotees had attended the festival since it began last month.
Tragically, the Kumbh Mela has been the site of some of the world’s deadliest crowd-related incidents. In 1954, over 400 people died in a single day, either trampled or drowned. Another 36 were killed in a stampede during the last festival in Prayagraj in 2013.
AFP
