SAD: Railway Stampede In Mumbai Kills At Least 22, Injures 32

Railway Stampede In Mumbai Kills At Least 22 , Injures 32
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A rush hour stampede during a sudden monsoon downpour at a railway station in Mumbai, India  on Friday, 29th September 2017 has killed at least 22 people and wounded more than 30, police stated.

• The stampede took place after a heavy downpour took commuters off guard
• Other police said the stampede was triggered by a rumour that a pedestrian bridge collapsed
• A witness says emergency services were slow to respond

The cause of the stampede on a bridge at the city's central Elphinstone station during the rainstorm was being investigated, a police official at the accident site disclosed.

"There were too many people on the bridge, and the people were in hurry and wanted to move out," said Brijesh Upadhyay, one of the many caught in the crowd.

"There was nobody helping, it was very suffocating, and we just wanted to get out of there — and fell on each other."

The stampede took place after the cloudburst caught commuters off guard, prompting scores to scurry for cover under the roof of the station's pedestrian over-bridge, one of the injured Mr. Akash Koteja disclosed.

"Trains were rolling in and some people wanted to get out of the station, but others were not making way," Mr. Koteja further lamented. "When a few tried, it led to a stampede."

Hospitals were treating 32 injured people, including 19 women and 13 men.

As Mumbai police appealed to citizens to donate blood to help the injured, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to the families of those killed.

The bridge is usually crowded at that time of day, as it also serves as an exit route for passengers getting off trains at an adjoining railway station, he added.

Mumbai police official Gansham Patel said some falling concrete had hit part of the bridge railing, leading people to surge forward out of panic at the thought that the bridge was collapsing.

One rescuer told Indian broadcaster NDTV that the stampede trapped dozens in the narrow passage, forcing rescuers to break the railing to pull people out.

Scripted by: Rostrum











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