Heavy rush due to festival at Bandra railway station leaves 9 injured

On the morning of Oct 27, a stampede at Mumbai's Bandra railway station resulted in injuries to at least nine people as a large crowd rushed to board the festival special train, the 22921 Bandra-Gorakhpur Express.

According to a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation official, "The incident took place at 5:56 am on platform number one at Bandra Terminus, where there was a rush to board train number 22921 Bandra-Gorakhpur Express. The number of passengers exceeded the capacity of the 22-coach unreserved train, resulting in a chaotic situation."

Railway sources claimed that passengers attempted to push their way into the already full coaches, obstructing the doors and passage. Some passengers were carrying heavy bags, which exacerbated the situation and increased platform congestion.

All the injured were taken to Bhabha Hospital immediately, including seven passengers in critical condition.

“On Sunday, at around 2:45 AM, train number 22921 Antyodaya Express was slowly being brought from the yard to platform number one of Bandra Terminus when some passengers on the platform attempted to board the moving train, resulting in two passengers falling and getting injured," a senior railway official said.

“The on-duty RPF, GRP, and Home Guard quickly acted and admitted the injured passengers to the nearby government Bhabha Hospital. According to the doctors, the condition of all injured passengers is currently stable. Passengers are requested not to board or alight from moving trains, as it is dangerous,” he added.

While passengers alleged that there were no crowd control measures on the platform, railway sources claimed that an adequate number of Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) officers were deployed at the station.

The large rush of passengers overpowered security personnel, with reports of people attempting to board the train before it arrived at the platform from the yard.

Footage of the tragedy, which shows hundreds of passengers rushing to catch the train, went viral on social media.

Visuals also showed blood on the floor and injured people being carried on stretchers by Railway Police officers and other passengers. Another viral video captured a railway officer carrying an injured passenger on his shoulder.

A special train was set up for the festival season to meet the increased travel demand to North India during the Diwali and Chhath Puja holidays.

The railways have initiated an investigation into the incident to determine the cause of the stampede and to establish measures to prevent similar situations in the future.

According to officials, the injured have been identified as Shabhir Abdul Rehman (40), Parmeshwar Sukhdar Gupta (28), Ravindra Harihar Chuma (30), Ramsevak Ravindra Prasad Prajapati (29), Sanjay Tilakram Kangay (27), Divyanshu Yogendra Yadav (18), Mohammad Shareef Shaikh (25), Indrajith Sahani (19), and Noor Mohammad Shaikh (18).