Elphinstone stampede: Festive cheer turns into forgotten cries for families of victims

Ankita Bose

Moneycontrol News

A city preparing for a long and festive weekend was left in shock following a stampede on a bridge interlinking the Parel and Elphinstone railway stations in Mumbai on Friday morning.

The accident claimed at least 22 lives and left 33 others fighting for their lives at the King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital in Parel.

Friday's tragedy hit the city where it hurts the most. The suburban trains are Mumbai's lifeline, used by millions on a daily basis to reach their workplaces.

The two stations - Elphinstone and Parel — are among the busiest in the city as they connect two suburban lines and are frequented by the 9-5 blue-collar job goers who work in the city's business hub.

There is still no clarity about what exactly caused the stampede. Police deployed near Parel station spoke about a possible short circuit that may have triggered panic. But before he could say more, he turned to attend to the other panicked people at the scene dotted with ambulances and police vehicles.

At the government-run KEM hospital, family and friends of the victims were also in the dark about what had happened to their loved ones. As they tried to make sense of the situation, prominent faces from the political world arrived at the scene including Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, Lok Sabha MP from Shiv Sena Arvind Sawant, and state minister Vinod Tawde.

Amid the chaos, Madhavi Surve, an employee of the Maharashtra Labour Welfare Board, was feeling helpless. She said with bated breath that many of her colleagues and relatives commute on the route around the same time and she had no way of finding out about their well-being as there were still unidentified bodies.

"I didn't use the bridge today as my husband called me for some work," she said.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, occupants of the country's highest constitutional offices from President to Prime Minister tweeted their condolences.

"All these ministers speak a lot but don't do anything. If you really feel so bad, instead of paying such visits, please build another bridge there," she said, her annoyance apparent.

 

 

 

 

 

But as the famous faces continued to arrive at the scene, the commotion outside overpowered the cries of the relatives of the victims inside the hospital's emergency unit.