Mumbai: At least 22 people were killed and 30 injured in a stampede in Mumbai’s Elphinstone Railway Station on Friday morning, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
The sad irony is that the tragedy occurred on a day the station was to be formally rechristened as the Prabhadevi Railway Station.
Angry Mumbaikars vented their anger on social media, with many saying the tragedy was waiting to happen given that the city was yet again flooded after heavy rain.
The stampede was reportedly triggered when commuters thronged the footover bridge to seek refuge from the downpour. Visuals show people jostling for space and gasping for breath.
The bridge was clearly not strong enough to handle the huge crowd, but calls to upgrade infrastructure at the station have fallen on deaf ears in the past.
Hours after the tragedy on Friday, Mumbai Mayor Vishvanath, too, passed the buck to the Railways. "The Railways should have made a footover bridge. We will talk to Railway Minister (Piyush Goyal) who is visiting Mumbai today."
One of the oldest city bridges, the Elphinstone Bridge, has been a topic of debate for some time now.
This is the same stretch where renowned cardiologist Dr Deepak Amrapurkar had drowned in an open manhole late last month.
Will Friday’s tragedy jolt authorities into action?
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