At least 18 people were killed during a stampede at a railway station in India's capital late on Saturday night, when surging crowds scrambled to catch trains to the Hindu religious gathering of Kumbh Mela, officials and reports said on Sunday.
The Kumbh Mela attracts tens of millions of Hindus every 12 years to the northern city of Prayagraj, and has a history of crowd-related disastersincluding one last month, when at least 30 people died in another stampede at the holy confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
The rush at the train station in New Delhi appeared to break out on Saturday as crowds struggled to board trains for the event, which will end on February 26. "I can confirm 15 deaths at the hospital," Dr Ritu Saxena, Deputy Medical Superintendent of the Lok Nayak Hospital in New Delhi told AFP.
"They don't have any open injury. Most [likely died from] hypoxia or maybe some blunt injury but that would only be confirmed after an autopsy," she said. "There are also 11 others who are injured. Most of them are stable and have orthopaedic injuries."
Media reports, citing the Press Trust of India news agency, said that the death toll rose to 18, including five children. The youngest of the victims was seven years old and the oldest was 79, according to multiple media outlets. All but four of the 18 people named were female.
Atishi, the chief minister of the national capital territory, said on X that many of the victims were pilgrims who were going to attend the Maha Kumbh festival. "This is a very tragic incident and we pray for those who have lost their lives," Atishi said.
The stampede occurred at about 8 pm on Saturday on two platforms where passengers were waiting to board trains to Prayagraj city, where the Maha Kumbh is taking place, media reports said. Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said a "high-level inquiry" had been ordered into the causes of the accident.
Undeterred by the accident crowds of people continued to throng the railway station on Sunday with more police and railway protection forces deployed to control the flow of passengers. Vaishnaw said additional special trains were being run from New Delhi to clear the rush.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "distressed" by the stampede, while the opposition parties, criticised the travel arrangements for the mega-festival and blamed the government for attempting a cover-up, after it had denied for hours that a stampede had occurred.
"They are worried about their image at the cost of the faith of crores of people who are visiting Maha Kumbh... There is no arrangement," opposition Congress party leader Pawan Khera told ANI news agency.
The six-week Kumbh Mela is the single biggest milestone on the Hindu religious calendar, and officials said around 500 million people have already visited the festival since it began last month.
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