News / India

Mumbai railway stampede kills at least 22 people

Friday, 29 September 2017 8:20 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 29 September 2017 8:46 AM ]

Passengers and local people are seen carrying the injured down a bridge after a stampede at Elphinstone Station in Mumbai, India, on September 29, 2017.

A stampede broke out on a crowded pedestrian bridge connecting two railway stations in Mumbai during the Friday morning rush, and at least 22 people were killed in the crush while another 27 were seriously injured, police said.

The stampede was triggered by falling concrete that hit the bridge railing, leading people in the crowd to surge forward to escape as they thought the bridge would collapse, Mumbai police official Gansham Patel said.

People had been crowding under the canopy covering the bridge to escape heavy rains, making the deadly tragedy worse, said lawmaker Shaina Nana Chudasama of the governing Bhartiya Janata Party.

Commuters also often complain about street-sellers hawking their wares on the narrow overpass.

The pedestrian bridge connected two local Mumbai railway stations — Elphinstone and Parel.

Deadly stampedes are fairly common during Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small areas with few safety or crowd control measures.

(Source: AP)

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