Festive rush triggers stampede at Bandra station, 10 injured

MUMBAI: Ten people were injured, two of them critically, in a stampede at Bandra Terminus around 2.45am Sunday when thousands of passengers headed to UP for Diwali and Chhath Puja tried to board the unreserved Bandra-Gorakhpur Antyodaya Express.

According to eyewitnesses, as the unreserved 22-coach festival special train slowly approached platform number 1 from the yard, many rushed to board it, breaking queues, and creating chaos. As the doors were still locked, many fell between the coaches, sparking panic on the platform and others got injured in the melee. A video of the stampede has gone viral on social media.

Six to eight sacks of footwear and clothes were collected from the tracks after the incident.

Even as Western Railway has launched an inquiry into the stampede, Maha Vikas Aghadi called the incident a "govt failure" to ensure smooth transportation during the festival season.

While the train has a seating capacity of 2,037, an estimated 2,540 tickets were issued, creating heavy overcrowding on the platform. Government Railway Police sources said that another Gorakhpur-bound train, delayed by 16 hours, had led some unreserved passengers to linger on the platform, increasing crowd to 2,500-3,000 people.

Railway Protection Force and GRP teams acted swiftly, transferring injured passengers to Bhabha Hospital in Bandra and KEM Hospital in Parel. The incident has raised concerns about railway crowd management during peak seasons.