Survivor recounts the horror that unfolded on platform number 12-13 of New Delhi Railway Station on Sunday evening
Survivor recounts the horror that unfolded on platform number 12-13 of New Delhi Railway Station on Sunday evening
For 39-year-old Imran, summer vacations are the time when he takes his three children to his ancestral village
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in Bihar. Rush was somethingu00a0 he has been accustomed to in trains bound for his home state. But he had never imagined the horror that he had to face on Sunday, all because of a railway announcement.
The rush was building up as all the staircases leading to platform number 12-13 were running full. Imran was assured that as soon as the train will reach the platform, things will settle down.
He was standing on platform number 13 with his daughter Kainat in his one hand and a bag in the other. His two sons - Sonu and Rahmat - were with their mother Tarana.
Suddenly an announcement changed the whole scene. "Train number 2558 Sapt Kranti Express from New Delhi to Muzaffarpur will arrive on platform number 12 instead of platform number 13."
u00a0All hell broke loose as a huge rush started shifting to the adjacent platform and those still arriving on the platform started running helter-skelter. A woman fell on the stairs, triggering a stampede. Imran tried hard to keep his flock together but soon his wife and two sons were swept away a wave of crowd pushing its way through the other platform.
Rush hour: Members of Civil Defence conducting rescue operations
after a railway error sets off stampede at the station. Two people died
and more than 10 were reportedly injured. PIC/IMTIYAZ KHAN
It was around 2.45 pm and for the next two hours Imran kept shouting and jostling around to locate his wife and two sons.
u00a0"I thought I have lost my family. It was hell. There was nobody to help us. People were crying for their relatives who have been lost in the stampede. I somehow managed to save myself and my daughter by clinging on to an iron pole," he told MiD DAY.
Soon the police and railway officials swung into action and brought the situation under control. Imran started frantically calling for his wife and two sons but couldn't trace them. He was fast losing hope.
"As I started fearing the worst, I found my son Rahmat sitting beside a stack of coir sacks on platform number 12," he said. It did not take him long to find his wife and other son Sonu on the other corner of the platform.u00a0 Though Imran lost his luggage but he was not complaining.
"I thought I lost my family. But, thank God they are all safe. I couldn't have asked for more," Imran said.
| No to platform tickets |
| People coming to New Delhi Railway Station to see off their loved ones will not be able to enter platforms from today as the railways have decided to stop sale of platform tickets to control crowd inside the station. The decision came on Sunday night in the wake of a stampede at the railway station, in which two people were killed and more than 10 were injured. Railway Board member Vivek Sahai said apart from New Delhi station, platform tickets will not be sold in Old Delhi and Hazarat Nizamuddin stations too. |
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