‘Passengers started running after the announcement, the roads were blocked…’, RPF report on NDLS stampede reveals

New Delhi: RPF has prepared a report on the stampede that took place at New Delhi Railway Station on Saturday night. The report states that the roads leading to platform numbers 12, 13, 14, 15,16 were completely jammed. Keeping in mind the ever-increasing crowd at the station, the RPF inspector had advised the station director to run the special train early. The report revealed that the stampede took place at 8:48 pm.

The RPF report states that after the departure of Shivganga Express from platform number 12 at 8 pm on Saturday, a huge crowd of passengers started gathering on the platform, due to which the roads leading to platform numbers 12, 13, 14, 15,16 were completely jammed. After this, the RPF inspector advised the station director to run the special train early and asked the railway team selling 1500 tickets every hour for Prayagraj to immediately stop selling tickets. The RPF report states that after seeing the increasing crowd in the CCTV footage, the station director was asked to stop issuing tickets.

According to the report, when the RPF staff on duty was trying to clear the crowded FOB 2 and 3 at 8:45 pm, an announcement was made that the Kumbh Special train would leave from platform number 12. Shortly after that, an announcement was made again at the station that the Kumbh Special train would leave from platform number 16. After which a stampede situation arose among the passengers. According to the RPF, the stampede was reported to the duty station in-charge at 8:48 pm.

On hearing the announcement made by the railway, the passengers of Prayagraj Special from platforms 12-13 and 14-15 started running to climb the foot over bridge 2 and 3 via the stairs. Meanwhile, passengers of another train were coming down the stairs, there was jostling among them and in this chaos some people slipped and fell, causing a stampede. This accident happened at 8:48 pm.

Even after the stampede, there was a delay of 40 minutes in informing other agencies through official communication. Delhi Fire says that they received the first information about the stampede from Delhi Police at 9:55 pm. However, the railway has said in its official communication that the stampede happened at 9:15 pm. Apart from this, Aaj Tak had contacted the Chief Public Relations Officer of Northern Railway to know about the delay, but no response has come yet.

Let us tell you that in the stampede that took place at New Delhi Railway Station on Saturday night, 18 passengers died due to suffocation, while many people were injured. The dead include 9 women, 4 men and 5 children. All these people were residents of Bihar, Delhi and Haryana.