Stampede at Mumbai's Bandra terminus: Chaos and crowds collide amid festive rush, videos go viral
Mumbai (PTI): Chaos and cacophony reigned at Western Railway's heavily-patronised Bandra Terminus on Sunday morning after a mass of people tried to board a moving train to reach their native places for Diwali and Chhath, leaving nine injured, many becoming the subject of harrowing social media videos.
The incident took place around 2:45 am when passengers rushed to board the unreserved 22921 Bandra-Gorakhpur Antyodaya Express while it was moving into platform number 1 from Bandra Terminus yard.
While scheduled departure of the 22-coach train was at 5:10am, officials said during such festival rush passengers often scurry to occupy seats as quickly as possible since there is no reservation.
Videos that flooded social media since morning showed people running and shouting, and some passengers injured and bloodied.
One video showed a man with blood oozing out of his wounds, while another injured passenger lay next to him. Shockingly, several people were seen boarding the compartment even as a passenger with a leg injury lay by the door.
Another video doing the rounds of social media showed a Railway Protection Force constable carrying an injured passenger on his shoulder, while another personnel was seen ferrying a passenger to the hospital in a makeshift cloth stretcher.
Amid the chaos, local residents and those present on other platforms were also seen in several videos helping the injured persons.
Incidentally, civic officials said nine persons were injured and identified them as Shabhir Abdul Rehman (40), Parmeshwar Sukhdar Gupta (28), Ravindra Harihar Chuma (30), Ramsevak Ravindra Prasad Prajapati (29), Sanjay Tilakram Kangay (27), Divyanshu Yogendra Yadav (18), Mohammad Shareef Shaikh (25), Indrajith Sahani (19) and Noor Mohammad Shaikh.
Police said Sahani and Noor Mohammad Shaikh had been rushed to nearby Bhabha Hospital in a critical condition.
However, a statement from Western Railway said two persons were injured.
The statement also informed that 130 festival special trains were being run to various destinations, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, in view of the upcoming Diwali and Chhath festivals.
In all, these special trains will make 2,300 trips from Mumbai Central and Bandra in the metropolis, as well as Valsad and Udhna in neighbouring Gujarat, the WR statement added.
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Several Indians inducted into Russian Army remain missing: Report
New Delhi: In a concerning development, several Indians who were illegally enlisted in the Russian Army and forcibly sent to the war zone on the Russia-Ukraine border are reportedly still missing.
According to a report published by The Hindu on Sunday, citing communication from the Ministry of External Affairs and statements from the families of two missing men, Mohammad Amin Sheikh, a 65-year-old resident of Kupwara in Tangdhar, Jammu and Kashmir, said that his 27-year-old son, Zahoor Sheikh, last contacted the family on December 31, 2023.
Amin Sheikh mentioned that his son said that he was going for training and would not be available for the next three months on phone. “But when we started getting news about the deaths of Indians in Russia in January, we got worried and called on his number. We could not reach him. We are yet to hear from him,” Sheikh, a retired Inspector from the Public Health Department in Jammu and Kashmir, was quoted as saying by the publication.
Last week, Mohammad Amin Sheikh and his two other sons travelled to New Delhi to seek answers from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Russian Embassy after the Indian Embassy in Moscow failed to give them information about Zahoor Sheikh.
“We submitted a petition at the Russian Embassy,” 31-year-old Aijaz Amin, Zahoor Sheikh’s elder brother, told The Hindu. “They said they are looking into the matter. The MEA officials said that at least 15 Indians are still missing and though the Russian government is cooperative, their commanders on the ground are not responsive,” he added.
Zahoor had travelled to Russia after he came across a YouTube video promising the job of a security helper in Russia. Instead, he was reportedly deceived into joining the Russian Army.
Similarly, 30-year-old Mandeep, from Jalandhar in Punjab, has been missing since March. His brother, Jagdeep Kumar, also arrived in Delhi, looking for answers from the government about his sibling's whereabouts.
“We last spoke on March 3. He initially went to Armenia and was supposed to go to Italy from there in search of work. Instead, he was tricked by an agent to go to Russia and was forced to join the Russian Army. He was sent to the war zone after a few days of training,” Kumar told The Hindu.
Kumar said he met officials from the External Affairs Ministry in the capital city, who told him that at least 25 Indians were reported missing in Russia.
