22 killed in stampede at Mumbai’s Elphinstone station
September 29, 2017(Agencies)
At least 22 people died and more than 30 were seriously injured on Friday in a stampede at Mumbai’s Elphinstone railway station.
The injured have been admitted to KEM Hospital and other nearby hospitals.
A National Disaster Response Force team has also reached the accident site.
S Jaykumar, additional commissioner of police (Central Region), Mumbai informed that overcrowding at the station lead to stampede.
The stampede reportedly occurred around 10.45 am on a footover bridge linking Elphinstone Road and Parel suburban railway stations.
Niket Kaushik, Government Railway Police Commissioner, informed that the exact reasons for the accident are still to be inquired into.
Western Railway Public Relations Officer Anil Saxena, however, said that chaos was created as a pedestrian slipped after heavy rainfall on the footover bridge and added that a probe order has been issued by the railway ministry to look into the cause of the incident.
“A large number of people had gathered on the footover bridge because of heavy rain. When the rain stopped, people started stepping out, and a pedestrian is believed to have slipped, which resulted in the tragedy. There is no valid information as such about the situation and an investigation is underway. The railway ministry has given the order for a thorough inspection to figure out the cause of this stampede,” Saxena told media here.
Anil Kumar Gupta, General Manager, Western Railways, informed the media that there will be no change in train timings and they will be running on their scheduled times.
Accident Relief Medical Equipment Train was rushed to the accident spot and immediate medical assistance was provided to the injured.
Senior railway officers were also sent to the site.
