Crowded platforms, a blocked footbridge, a crush near the escalators, passengers gasping for air, people running and falling over each other….

People on Sunday recounted the horrific scenes they had witnessed at the New Delhi railway station on Saturday night, when a stampede killed at least 18 people, including 14 women and 3 children, mostly would-be Kumbh pilgrims waiting to board trains
to Allahabad.

The youngest victim was seven years old and the oldest 79, police sources said. Scores were injured.

Many people alleged mismanagement and a lack of crowd control measures at the station where thousands had been jostling for space for hours and a crush seemed to be building.

One of the first alerts on social media had come at 7.59pm, with an X user warning of a “stamped(e)-like situation”. However, the police said the stampede occurred “between 9pm and 9.30pm”.

Eyewitnesses claimed a sudden announcement about a change of platforms, from 14 to 16, had triggered the stampede but the police denied it, claiming a “misunderstanding”.

Manoj Shah, a factory worker from Haryana whose 11-year-old daughter Suruchi and parents-in-law Vijay Shah and Krishna Shah were trampled to death, alleged the police took at least half an hour to arrive and take the victims to hospital.

“There was a sea of people. The crowd, surging towards a train going to Prayagraj, went out of control and there were no police to manage the situation,” Shah said.

“We are shattered,” he sobbed. “Suruchi was my only daughter. What will we do now? My wife has lost her parents. They just wanted to visit the Kumbh. What was
their fault?”

He added: “My daughter could have survived (if taken to hospital sooner). She was run over by scores of people. She studied in Class V.”

Hundreds — passengers and relatives seeing them off — got caught up in the stampede that affected the contiguous Platforms 14 and 15 and the overhead footbridge to Platform 16.

Many eyewitnesses suggested the death toll could be much higher than the official count of 18.

Passengers blamed

Initial investigation suggests the claim of a last-minute change of platforms is incorrect, police sources said on Sunday.

They said the passengers had misunderstood an announcement for a “Prayagraj Special” train on Platform 16, thinking their regular train, Prayagraj Express, had been shifted from Platform 14. This caused a rush forPlatform 16.

They added that of the four trains meant to leave for Allahabad around the same time, three had been delayed, causing unexpected overcrowding.

Pinki Devi, mother of a 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, was among those killed. The Sangam Vihar resident was headed for the Kumbh withher family.

Pintu Sharma, a relative, said their group of about 15 had confirmed tickets.

“The stampede happened because of negligence. The railway authorities should have informed the passengers about train cancellations or rescheduling around three to four hours in advance. Then, there would not have been such a huge crowd at the station,” he said.

He too said the police were late to arrive at the scene.

Clean-up job

By Sunday morning, railway authorities had got the station cleaned hurriedly, keen to wipe out any trace of the previous night’s tragedy. Even the garbage bins had been wrapped with fresh,glittering polybags.

A few plastic bags and wrappers scattered on the floor of Platform 14-15 were the only reminders of the previous night’s horror.

“Last night, the platforms were crowded and chaotic. People lay unconscious on the floor,” said Chhotu Kumar, who works at a food kiosk along Platform 14. He said the station had echoed with cries of pain, griefand horror.

Chhotu said that when the crowd on Platform 14 made a mad rush towards Platform 16, many fell on the narrow footbridge connecting the two platforms and were crushedto death.

“I was shocked and a little scared, too,” he said, adding that he and his friends had rushed to help.

A porter said: “We tried to help people and take the injured to ambulances.”

Some others working at the railway station said the crowd on Saturday night was unlike anything they had seen before. All the Allahabad-bound trains through the day had been packed beyond capacity, and several platforms apart from 14 and 15 toowere jam-packed.

Relatives’ woes

The government seemed keen on averting a backlash. Police and paramilitary forces were deployed at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital where most of the victims had been taken. Journalists were barred entry.

Many of the relatives of the dead were crying outside the hospital on Sunday. A woman who had come to collect the body of a loved one could barely manage to say: “She was crushed inthe crowd….”

A man whose wife has been missing since the stampede said “there was no way to move forward or backward” in the crush.

He said he had visited the Lady Hardinge Hospital as well as the LNJP looking for his wife but had neither found her nor received any satisfactory response.

A woman complained her father was not receiving proper treatment at the government-run LNJP Hospital, with the doctors appearing more interested in verifying whether he was a stampede victim. The victims are entitled to compensation.

“Instead of treating him, the doctors are asking if he was one of the passengers injured in the railway station incident,” the woman said. “I have a ticket to prove he was travelling to Prayagraj.”

She said her father had suffered a nose injury.

An ambulance driver said: “I received a call late at night. We rushed to the station and carried the injured into the ambulance.”

He did not remember how many bodies he had ferried in his vehicle.

The railways have ordered a high-level inquiry and announced ₹10 lakh each for the families of the dead, ₹2.5 lakh for the seriously injured and ₹1 lakh for those withminor injuries.