On 29 September 2017, a

stampede A stampede () is a situation in which a group of large animals suddenly start running in the same direction, especially because they are excited or frightened. Non-human species associated with stampede behavior include zebras, cattle, elephants ...

occurred at the suburban Elphinstone Road railway station in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, India. At least 23 people were killed and 39 others injured. The incident took place between the

Parel railway station Parel – Prabhadevi railway station is a Railway station junction which connects the Central line and Western line of Mumbai Suburban Railway. It serves the area of Parel and Prabhadevi in Mumbai, India. This railway station has seven pla ...

and Elphinstone road railway station.

Incident

On the morning of 29 September 2017, around 10:30am local time, a stampede erupted on a

footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at ...

at the suburban Elphinstone road railway station in Mumbai which connects two of the city's major suburban lines.

Cause

The incident occurred during the morning rush hour at Elphinstone road station, when four trains arrived simultaneously at the station. It was raining at the time and there were already numerous people crammed into the narrow bridge. Someone may have slipped and fell when passengers resumed their travel after the rain, leading to the stampede. A rumour that the pedestrian bridge was collapsing may have caused passengers to surge forwards to flee. According to a witness, the situation worsened as police and emergency officials did not respond immediately or enforce crowd control measures. At least 23 people died and 39 others were injured in the stampede. According to a hospital's official, most of the people who died suffered from chest compression and

haemorrhage Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, v ...

due to injuries.

Police investigation

"The overbridge of Elphinstone station was overcrowded and due to rain it got slippery too. This caused panic and resulted in the stampede," said Atul Shrivastav, IG of the Railway Protection Force. A case of Accidental Death (ADR), was registered at the Dadar Police Station. S. Jaykumar, Additional Commissioner of Police (Central Region), Mumbai also stated that overcrowding was a factor.

Reactions

Piyush Goyal Piyush Vedprakash Goyal (born 13 June 1964) is a politician, chartered accountant and cabinet minister of the Government of India having portfolios such as Minister of Textiles, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Minister of Consumer Affa ...

, the then

Minister of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructure. ...

, announced a compensation of ₨.10

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For e ...

or about $15,200 for the victims.

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murm ...

Ram Nath Kovind Ram Nath Kovind (; born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician who served as the 14th President of India from 2017 to 2022. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the second person after K. R. Narayanan, from the Dalit community ...

expressed grief over the "loss of lives in the stampede in Mumbai".

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

expressed his condolences to "all those who have lost their lives due to the stampede in Mumbai", in a tweet.

Venkaiah Naidu Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (born 1 July 1949) is an Indian politician who served as the 13th vice president of India from 2017 to 2022. He is the first Indian vice president born in independent India. He has also served as the minister of Hous ...

, the Vice President; Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra;

Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current chief minister of the Indian state of West Bengal since 20 May 2011, the first woman to hold the office. Having served many times as a ...

, Chief Minister of West Bengal and opposition leader

Rahul Gandhi Rahul Gandhi ( ; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as the president o ...

also expressed condolences over the deaths caused by the stampede.

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...

called the stampede "a public massacre of the people by the government". Many Indians took to social media and called out the government for spending on projects such as a new bullet train from Mumbai to

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, instead of focusing on basic infrastructure. Many media reports criticised the infrastructure in the station and reported the incident as a tragedy which was "waiting to happen". MNS chief

Raj Thackeray Raj Shrikant Thackeray (Marathi pronunciation: �aːd͡ʒ ʈʰaːkɾeː born Swaraj Shrikant Thackeray; 14 June 1968) is an Indian politician and the founding chairperson of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a regional political party. Raj wa ...

warned PM that he would not allow a single brick to be placed for the bullet train in

, until the infrastructure of local railways was made better. In the aftermath, railway minister

said that the government has ordered a probe into the incident. He also ordered a safety and capacity audit of all foot over-bridges at suburban stations across Mumbai. In February 2018, the Indian Army opened three new

Bailey bridge A Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge. It was developed in 1940–1941 by the British for military use during the Second World War and saw extensive use by British, Canadian and American military engineering units ...

footbridges at

Elphinstone Road Parel – Prabhadevi railway station is a Railway station junction which connects the Central line and Western line of Mumbai Suburban Railway. It serves the area of Parel and Prabhadevi in Mumbai, India. This railway station has seven pl ...

Currey Road Currey Road (station code: CRD) is a railway station that serves the Lower Parel neighbourhood in Mumbai. It is on the Central line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway serving the areas of Lalbaug and Parel. Currey Road is situated in central ...

and Ambivli. These were erected quickly, in response to the stampede.

References

{{Disasters in India in 2017 Mumbai stampede Mumbai stampede 2010s in Mumbai History of Mumbai (1947–present) Mumbai stampede Human stampedes in India September 2017 events in India Bridge disasters in India Rail transport in Mumbai Urban decay in India