‘Broken lunch boxes and half-eaten food’: What New Delhi station witnessed

Within moments, tragedy struck in the form of a stampede, transforming the bustling and cheerful atmosphere into an unimaginable horror.

Ashish Srivastava

NEW DELHI: On the night of February 15, the scene at the New Delhi railway station was regular: hundreds of trains arriving and departing, passengers waiting, and vendors selling their goods. However, within moments, tragedy struck in the form of a stampede, transforming the bustling and cheerful atmosphere into an unimaginable horror.

When ‘Ambulance Man’ Himanshu Kalia and his wife Kalia, who were returning from AIIMS learned about the disaster, they rushed to the station to provide medical aid. However, what met them was a trail of destruction, cries for help, and haunting images of suffering.

“We reached the station at around 10:30 pm, but the chaos was so overwhelming that it took us more than half an hour just to reach the site of the incident. A sea of people, panicked and desperate, flooded the exits. We had to push through, struggling to reach those in need,” Kalia recalled.

For the couple, the site of the incident was a heart-wrenching spectacle. “Families were separated, belongings were scattered across the platform, and the air was filled with echoes of despair. People lay unconscious on the hard concrete, their bodies bearing the marks of the disaster. A mother was desperately shaking her unconscious child, trying to wake him up.”

“A man waded through the wreckage, calling out his daughter’s name. A young man clutched on to his injured head with one hand while shouting for his parents. Elderly passengers, their glasses shattered and their legs wounded, struggled to stand. In front of us, someone got pushed from the footover bridge and landed on the hard concrete of the platform,” Kalia said, his voice trembling.

For him, the most haunting sight was of broken lunch boxes and half-eaten food strewn across. “A half eaten apple in a corner forced me to think about the fate of the person who had it. Did he survive? Did he get a chance to fight for his life?”

However, he said, “After witnessing the trauma, life will never be the same. Not for the survivors, me, or for those who lost their loved ones in the tragedy. A few lakhs of compensation can’t fill the void.”

Victims visited city to meet loved ones

Poonam Devi had come to Delhi to meet her daughter. A kin of Devi said she and her husband from Bihar first travelled to the Maha Kumbh before coming to Delhi. She was returning to her village, but became a victim of stampede.

Tight security at station amid heavy rush

Tight security was put in place at the railway station, with additional personnel from Delhi Police, RPF and GRP being deployed to manage heavy rush, which remained overcrowded on Monday.

Courtesy : TNIE

Note: This news is originally published in thenewindianexpress.com and was used solely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights