Bandra Terminus stampede: What led to the chaos and casualties?

Ten people were injured when a giant crowd attempted to board the Gorakhpurbound unreserved 22coach Antyodaya Express train at Bandra Terminus around 255 am on Sunday The pandemonium unfolded as the train was being berthed on platform 1 which is aligned with the road and is porous ie even those without valid tickets are able to easily enterWhile the disaster control room of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC stated that nine had been injured the Western Railway WR took seven hours to issue its first update mentioning the number of injured as two Railway officials later said only two victims were found to be in possession of valid ticketsAbandoned footwear belonging to those who had tried to board the train while it was being berthed on platform 1 PicRajendra B Aklekar right Riot police patrol the terminus on Sunday in the wake of the mishap PicAnurag AhireA similar incident was reported at Surat last year during Diwali and Chhath Puja eve where one person was killed and several had been injured while getting onboard a Bhagalpurbound trainThe stampedeAccording to eyewitnesses hordes gathered at Bandra Terminus platform 1 on Saturday night and Sunday morning to catch the 22921 BandraGorakhpur Antyodaya Express which departs Bandra at 510 am The incident occurred as the train entered the platform at 255 am Rough estimates stated that a crowd of nearly 5000 had gathered to board this train which is completely unreserved as an earlier scheduled train had been 16 hours latePlatform 1 at Bandra Terminus a few hours after the stampede occurred on Sunday PicsAnurag AhireIronically the berthing of the Antodaya Express on platform 1 had been reportedly delayed by ten minutes due to the fact that the doors of the train were being locked to avoid such an incidentAs the train was being backed from the yard to the platform the crowd broke loose and tried to get into the reversing train ldquoThe train was entering the platform at a speed of less than 5 kmph and the doors of coaches were locked The crowd standing on the platform which was being managed by a handful of cops and railway officials got loose and charged towards the train People started hanging to the doors It is not clear but some doors might have been opened by force leading to more crowding at those points and eventually a stampederdquo an official saidThe injured were shifted to Bandrarsquos Bhabha hospital While some were later discharged others were shifted to private hospitals and seriously injured patients were shifted to KEM hospitalFaster train preferredRailway officials said that Antyodaya was preferred because it was an unreserved completely vestibuled special train with 22 coaches and tickets for this particular train were a bit more expensive than a regular unreserved ticket R540 for Antyodaya and 450 for regular unreserved as it was ldquofasterrdquo It completed the journey in 34 hours as compared to other trains on the same route which took 40 hours ldquoThe train had a seating capacity of 2100 seating passengers but usually it ferries 3000 and above For this particular train about 2540 tickets were soldrdquo a divisional official saidPolitical falloutFollowing the incident members of the Opposition took to social media to slam the Union Railway Ministry Shiv Sena UBT leader and Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray tweeted ldquoWish 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 Vaishnavji a prabhari incharge 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 ministersrdquoCongress MP Varsha Gaikwad tweeted ldquoThis is alarming A stampedelike situation at Bandra Terminus while passengers tried to board a Gorakhpurbound train Nine people injured The railways must take immediate measures to improve passenger management at their terminals especially during festival seasons when many travel AshwiniVaishnaw ji I had raised the issue of lack of facilities at longdistance train stations in Mumbai in the Parliament too and had written to you regarding the same This kind of apathy and negligence cannot continue Bandra stampede RailwaysrdquoThe National spokesperson of NCPrsquos Sharad Pawar faction Clyde Crasto said ldquoStampede at Bandra Terminus while people boarding the BandraGorakhpur Express shows yet another failure of the Railways Ministry and Reel sic Minister Ashwini Vaishnav Lack of enough trains during the festive season and also failure of the local administration have led to this mishaprdquoMinister of state saysMinister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu said ldquoI am in the know of the incident in Bandra The cause is not known yet We will be conducting a probe and the reason for the incident will be found soonrdquoThe Mumbai Government Railway Police GRP said they too would investigate the matter2540No of people who had bought tickets for train