At least 18 people die in train station stampede as worshippers travel to religious festival

At least 18 people have died, including 14 women, after a stampede at the main train station in New Delhi, according to local media.

The deadly surge happened at about 8pm local time on Saturday evening as thousands of passengers waited to board a train to the Maha Kumbh Hindu festival in Prayagraj in northern India.

Witnesses described a state of confusion after a change of train platforms led to a panic and stampede.

“The crowd went out of control and no one could control it,” said local shopkeeper Nikhil Kumar.

Eyewitness Dharmender Singh said there was “a huge stampede… a huge crowd. I have never seen such a crowd before”.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he was “distressed by the stampede”.

“My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that the injured have a speedy recovery,” he wrote on the social platform X.

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On Sunday the Press Trust of India put the number of dead at 18, although the news agency did not reveal their source.

Delhi’s caretaker chief minister, Atishi, who uses only one name, had initially reported 15 dead on Saturday including 10 women and three children.

She said on X that many of the victims were pilgrims travelling to the Maha Kumbh festival.

Their bodies were taken to the capital’s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narain Hospital, Atishi said.

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Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said an investigation has been ordered to find out what caused the deadly stampede.

Last month at least 30 people died in another stampede at the six-week festival itself, after tens of millions of Hindus gathered to take a dip in sacred river waters.