At least 10 passengers were injured, two of whom severely, in a stampede that took place when scores of passengers rushed to board an unreserved compartment of the Gorakhpur-bound Antyodaya Express platform number-one of Bandra Terminus (BDTS) Railway Station in the small hours of Sunday.   

The incident took place at around 2.45 am, when  the 22921 Antyodaya Express was slowly moving onto platform no 1 from the yard to head to Gorakhpur. A large number of passengers made headway into one of the unreserved compartments, leading to utter chaos and consequent stampede.

“On 27.10.2024 at about 02.45 hrs, passenger train number 22921 Antyodaya Express was slowly being placed on platform number 01 from the BDTS yard, when some passengers present on the platform tried to board the moving train and 02 passengers fell and got injured,” the Western Railway said in a statement issued here.

Of the ten injured passengers, two severely passengers - identified as Noor Shaikh Mohammed (18) and Indrajit Sahani (19), who were initially rushed to the nearby Bhabha Hospital, have been shifted to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)-run KEM Hospital.  “Both of them have suffered multiple injuries. Noor Mohammed is on Oxygen support. His condition is critical,” an official from the BMC’s disaster control room said.

The authorities identified the remaining eight injured passengers 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) and Sameer Shaikh (22) Of them, five are undergoing treatment at the Bhabha Hospital, while three have been discharged from the hospital after treatment.               

A 51-second video clip shot minutes before the stampede showed a huge crowd of passengers waiting platform number one to board the train at the Bandra railway platform. As the train was moving onto the platform passengers surged and jostled with one another to board an unreserved compartment. What followed was a stampede. 

Some videos circulating on social media showed people running helter skelter and shouting. One of the videos showed a man with blood oozing out of his wounds, while another injured passenger lay next to him.

One video showed a Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable carrying an injured passenger on his shoulder, while another personnel was seen taking a passenger to the hospital in a make-shift cloth stretcher.

All the 10 persons injured were taken initially to the nearby Bhabha Hospital from where two severely injured persons were shifted to the KEM Hospital.

There was a tremendous pre-Diwali rush at the Bandra at Bandra Railway station when the mishap took place.  The migrants, who have come to Mumbai for jobs, return to their native places in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the run-up to Diwali and Chhath by trains every year.

In a statement issued here, the Western Railway said that 130 festival special trains were being run to various destinations, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, in view of the upcoming Diwali and Chhath festivals.”These special trains will make 2,300 trips from Mumbai Central and Bandra in the metropolis, as well as Valsad and Udhna in neighbouring  Gujarat,” the WR statement added.

Sunday’s incident brought back the horrific memories of a massive stampede that had taken  place on a narrow foot-over-bridge (FoB) connecting the Parel and Elphinstone Railway stations in south-central Mumbai that took place on September 29, 2017, in which 22 commuters were killed and 39 others injured.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former minister Aaditya Thackeray on Sunday dubbed Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw as “incapable” and said that he wished “the reel minister was a rail minister for once” Aaditya wrote on micro-blogging site “X”: “Wish the reel minister was a rail minister for once. The incident at Bandra only reflects how incapable the current Railways Minister is.”

“The BJP has made Ashwini Vaishnav ji, a prabhari for BJP Maharashtra for elections, but every week there are some incidents and accidents that occur with the railways. Such a shame that our country has been forced under such incapable ministers,” Aaditya stated.