Death toll in stampede at New Delhi railway station rises to 18
World
Many of the victims were pilgrims who were going to attend the Maha Kumbh, the chief minister said
(Reuters) – Death toll in a stampede at the main railway station in India's capital New Delhi on Saturday night rose to 18 with dozens injured, local media said.
The dead included 11 women and four children, the media reported.
Earlier, chief minister of the capital territory Atishi told reporters early on Sunday that 15 people were killed.
She said on X that many of the victims were pilgrims who were going to attend the Maha Kumbh.
The deputy commissioner of police (railway) said many people were present on platform number 14 when the Prayagraj Express train stood at the platform. The Swantrata Senani Express and Bhubaneshwar Rajdhani Express were delayed and the passengers of these trains were also present on platform numbers 12, 13 and 14, the official said in a statement.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some other federal ministers confirmed the stampede incident in posts on X without disclosing the death toll.
"Distressed by the stampede at New Delhi Railway Station. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones," Modi said on X.
India's Interior Minister Amit Shah said in a post on X that he had spoken to the railway minister and taken stock of the situation.
An enquiry was ordered into the incident and four special trains were dispatched to evacuate the rush caused at the railway station, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on X, adding that the situation is now under control.
"The entire team is working to assist all those who have been affected by this tragic incident," he said.
Dozens of people were killed in a pre-dawn stampede at the Maha Kumbh in northern India last month as tens of millions of Hindus gathered to take a dip in sacred river waters on the most auspicious day of a six-week festival.
Delhi's lieutenant-governor VK Saxena, one of the capital territory's top officials, also visited the hospital to meet those injured in Saturday's incident, local media showed.
"This is a very tragic incident and we pray for those who have lost their lives," Atishi said.
India has witnessed several rail accidents in the last two years, including a collision in 2023 that killed at least 288 people. Indian railways is the fourth largest train network in the world and is undergoing a $30 billion upgrade, as part of Modi's push to boost connectivity.
PAST STAMPEDES
Here is a list of previous major stampedes in India over the past 20 years, most of them at religious festivals or gatherings:
JANUARY 29, 2025: Dozens were killed in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival, in northern India's Uttar Pradesh State, on one of the holiest days of the event as tens of millions of people gathered at the site in the world's biggest gathering of humanity.
JANUARY 8, 2025: At least six people were killed and 35 injured in a stampede near one of India's busiest and richest temples, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, after thousands of devout Hindus assembled there to secure free visit passes.
JULY 2024: Around 121 people died after thousands of devotees rushed to get a closer glimpse of a Hindu preacher in the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh state.
JANUARY 2022: At least 12 died and more were injured in a stampede at the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir, after a huge crowd of devotees tried to enter the narrow shrine.
OCTOBER 2013: Around 115 were killed and more than a hundred injured after a stampede at the Ratangarh temple in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh after more than 150,000 people gathered to celebrate Navratri, a nine-day festival that celebrates the Goddess Durga.
FEBRUARY 2013: At least 36 Hindu pilgrims were killed in a stampede on the busiest day of the Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh in 2013. Of the dead, 27 were women, including an eight-year-old girl.
MARCH 2010: At least 63 people, more than half of them children, were killed in a stampede triggered by a massive rush for free food and clothes at a Hindu temple in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, media reported.
SEPTEMBER 2008: A total of 250 people were trampled to death at the Chamundagar temple in the northern desert state of Rajasthan as pilgrims gathered to celebrate Navratri.
AUGUST 2008: At the mountaintop Naina Devi temple in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, about 145 Hindu pilgrims died after rumours of a landslide triggered a stampede.
JANUARY 2005: More than 265 Hindu devotees were killed and hundreds more injured after a stampede at the Mandhardevi temple in Wai town in the western state of Maharashtra. The stampede was caused by slippery steps leading up to the temple, media reported at the time.
