SAO PAULO, SP (FOLHAPRESS) – At least 18 people died during a riot at the main railway station of India, New Delhi, on Saturday (16), when passengers rushed to take the trains to participate in the world’s most populous religious event .
The younger victim was 7 years old and the oldest 79, according to Indian media, citing a list provided by police. All except four of the 18 names mentioned were women. More than a dozen wounded are being treated at the hospital.
The confusion occurred on Saturday around 20h local (11h30 in Brasilia) on two platforms where passengers rushed to climb the wagons that went to the city of Prayagraj, where the Hindu Festival Maha Kumbh Mela is happening, according to media reports.
Atishi, the chief minister of the territory of the national capital, said on social network X that many of the victims were pilgrims who were going to the festival, known as the largest religious event in the world. It happens every 12 years in the city of Prayagraj and now ends on February 26.
The estimate of the organizers is that in six weeks, Maha Kumbh Mela attracts 400 million pilgrims. Faithful bathe in the confluence of the Holy Rivers Ganges and Yamuna to atone for their sins, according to tradition.
The media showed images and videos of crowds of people falling on each other after the incident, while police and relief teams worked to try to relieve the confusion.
“There were a sea of people at the railway station, and the crowd advanced toward the train to Prayagraj,” a woman told India Today news channel. “I lost my belongings and barely survived.”
“I can confirm 15 dead in the hospital. They have no open wound, ”said Lok Nayak Hospital Ritu Saxena in the Indian capital, explaining that they probably died“ by hypoxia probably died [falta de oxigênio] or perhaps for closed trauma. ” She said there were 11 injured, most in stable condition.
Television station NDTV reported on three more dead in the incident, citing an official from another hospital center in the city.
Railroad Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said an investigation into the incident was ordered. “This is a very tragic incident and we pray for those who have lost their lives.”
India Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was saddened by the confusion. “My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones,” he wrote in X.
Dozens of people were confused before dawn at the same Hindu festival last month, when dozens of millions of Hindus gathered to take a shower in Rio’s sacred waters on the most promising day of the six -week festival. India witnessed several riots, mostly at festivals or religious meetings.
Delhi deputy governor, VK Saxena, visited some of the injured at the hospital, according to the local media.
There have been several rail accidents in India in the last two years, including a 2023 trains collision that killed at least 288 people. India’s railway network is the fourth largest in the world and is undergoing a $ 30 billion update as part of Modi’s effort to increase connectivity.
