Chaos at Delhi Railway station after stampede

People looking for their lost luggage, elderly men nursing their wounds and angry persons arguing with railway officials -- this was the scene at platform No 12 and 13 of New Delhi Railway Station this afternoon where a stampede claimed two lives.

Soon after the stampede broke out on the foot-over bridge connecting the platforms at around 2:50 pm, people were seen running to safety and trying to locate their loved ones.

Sumitra Devi, who was stranded at the railway station as she missed the train, said, "I have a wedding at home."

"We were taking clothes and other material for the marriage. My uncle is injured in the incident. We have nothing left. All our belongings got lost in the incident. How will we marry off our daughter," she said.

Another passenger Manish Gupta said they had to leave their belongings to save themselves.

"We did not bother to collect our baggage. The scene was so scary and we ran for our lives. I felt like I was going to die. I lost my shoes and luggage," he said.

Some passengers also entered into an argument with railway authorities demanding that they be accommodated in some train today itself.

"Why should I go tomorrow when I have booked my ticket in the train? Why can't the train wait for sometime when such an incident had taken place?" Dev Anand, who works at a factory here, said.

He was to travel to Patna along with his family and other relatives to attend a family function.

"They (railway authorities) are telling me now that I will be accommodated in a train tomorrow. But I want to go today," he said.

Thirty-year-old Imran, a labourer, came to the New Delhi Railway Station to board a train for his native Bhagalpur in Bihar but ended up getting bruises on his body in the stampede that occurred at the over-crowded station.

Imran and his wife were pushed by other passengers while they were on their way to the platform where they were supposed to board the Bihar Sapt Kranti Express.

Both of them were slightly injured in the incident and ended up missing the train.

"My train has gone...What will I do now? I have never seen such a crowd in the past 15 years. I have been a regular to the station and this is the first time I saw such a crowd. No one was there to even guide us," a fragile-looking Imran
said while consoling his two-year-old baby, who was crying.

"I was to go to Bhagalpur. The last minute change of the platform led to this incident. We started running as soon as we came to know that the train is coming on another platform...But I could not cross the foot overbridge. I fell down and so did my wife," he said.