NEW DELHI: A resident of Delhi’s Kapasehra, who lost his mother to the stampede at the New Delhi railway station, said the chaos began on the staircase and not the platforms.
“We were descending the staircase and the platform in front of us looked normal and there was no sign of any chaos. Suddenly, a crowd rush happened on the staircase and hordes of people started storming down. My mother and many women fell, while others trampled on them and passed,” he said, adding that their family was headed to Chhapra.
Other eyewitnesses said numerous passengers got onto platforms without tickets to board Mahakumbh-bound trains.
Many didn’t have tickets and said they entered the platforms because they wanted to buy a ticket but most trains were showing regrets.
“We will take a ticket when the ticket superintendent comes,” said one woman, who secured a seat in a special train but was yet to buy a ticket.
Many others in these special trains said the same thing.
They had managed to get into the train station without platform tickets, without train tickets in the hope that they would board the train and get a ticket on board.
Everyone said they stormed inside with the crowd rush and no one stopped or checked them.
The Saturday stampede deaths had the story of lapses on the part of Railways written all over them.