Baby Kumari (19) Staying at: Bijwasan, New Delhi Going to: Prayagraj Sharda Sah (32), a resident of Bijwasan, stood outside the Lady Hardinge Medical College, tears streaming down her face as she mourned the loss of her 19-year-old niece. Baby Kumari was crushed to death in the stampede at the New Delhi railway station on Saturday night. “I was reluctant to attend the Maha Kumbh, but my family members persuaded me to go,” Sharda recalled. “Kumari’s mother, Gayatri Devi, asked me to escort the girls from Delhi to Prayagraj, while the rest of the family joined from our village in Motihari.” As they made their way down the stairs, Sharda held Kumari’s hand, but they were separated in the chaos that ensued. “I heard people screaming, and before I could react, people started pushing us. The crowd surged forward, and Kumari was trampled. She died on the spot, with severe injuries to her chest, head, and shoulder,” cried Sharda. Poonam Rohilla (34) Staying at: Mahavir Enclave, New Delhi Going to: Prayagraj Poonam was going to Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh with her friends. Around 10 pm on Saturday, her family members received a call saying that she had been admitted to the Lok Nayak Hospital after a stampede at the New Delhi railway station. Poonam’s husband, Virender, looked for her body for two hours before he found it. The youngest of her two sons sat outside the hospital sobbing. “Koi facilities nahi hain, kuch nahi hain. Kabse bhaag rahe hain aur koi kuch bata nahi raha (There are no facilities. We have been running around but no one is giving us any information)”. Lalita Devi (40) Staying at: Panipat, Haryana Coming from: Patna Arrived at: Delhi Lalita Devi (35) had gone to Patna for a relative’s wedding on February 8 and was returning to her Panipat home on Saturday. She had just got down from the train at New Delhi railway station when the stampede occurred. Accompanied by her son 17-year-old son Jhunnu, she couldn’t make it out of the chaos. Santosh Mahto, Lalita’s husband, said, “Jhunnu called and asked me to reach Delhi. He just told us to reach Lok Nayak Hospital. We immediately left Panipat. We later got to know that Lalita had died.” “As soon as they got down from the train and walked towards the stairs from platform 15, a large crowd of people rushed from both sides. On the foot overbridge above the tracks, the crowd crushed Lalita while Jhunnu remained on one side of the bridge,” he added. Sheela Giri (47) Staying at: New Delhi Going to: Prayagraj “I told her not to go,” said Aman Giri (22), as he took his mother Sheela Giri’s body to the mortuary. He was accompanying Sheela to the Maha Kumbh along with his family when the stampede occurred. Sheela’s husband, Umesh Giri, has suffered a leg injury. “My mother couldn’t climb the steps, as everyone ran towards the stairs to escape the stampede,” said Aman. “In all, 37 people from our family were supposed to go but only six managed to get Tatkaal tickets,” said Sheela's sister-in-law Meena. Vijay Shah (45), Krishna Devi (40) & Suruchi (11) Staying at: Samastipur in Bihar; Tikri border in Delhi Going to: Prayagraj Manoj Shah, a resident of an area near the Tikri border, lost his 11-year-old daughter and in-laws in Saturday’s stampede. “My father-in-law Vijay Shah, mother-in-law Krishna Devi and my daughter Suruchi Kumari were going to Maha Kumbh. My brother-in-law, Mukesh, called me to say there has been a stampede,” he said. Mukesh, who had accompanied the three, was injured and admitted to the hospital. Vijay and Krishna had reached Delhi on Saturday from Samastipur in Bihar by train. His wife, Manoj said, was inconsolable. Sangeeta Malik (30) Staying at: Mundhal, Haryana Going to: Prayagraj Sangeeta Malik hailed from Mundhal in Haryana but had settled in Sonipat after she got married. She was on her way to Maha Kumbh with friends. A nurse, she was currently unemployed. Sangeeta’s cousin Ronit Sehgal said he got worried once news flashes about the stampede started pouring in. “We saw the news and rushed to the hospital. Sangeeta's earlier ticket was cancelled but am not sure if today’s ticket was confirmed,” he added. Poonam Devi (40) Staying at: Kapashera, New Delhi Going to: Sonpur, Bihar Poonam was staying in Delhi at her daughter Pammi and son-in-law Pappu’s place. When she decided to head back to Sonpur, her home in Bihar, Pappu and Pammi were eager to follow. Hoping to board the Magadh Express on Saturday night, they reached the station but tried to retreat after seeing the crowd. But it wasn’t soon enough to save Poonam’s life. “. If the authorities would have reached on time, then probably Poonam would have been alive today. It took 30-35 minutes to get to the ambulance and then take her to the hospital,” Pappu said. Neeraj (12) Staying at: Vaishali, Bihar Going to: Prayagraj Neeraj Paswan (12), a student, was going to Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh along with his uncle Amarjeet Paswan, aunt Rekha Devi and cousins Dinesh Paswan and Malti Devi. He used to stay near the Tikri border with Malti and Dinesh and was studying at a local school. “The plan was that they would go to their village in Bihar (Vaishali) after going to Kumbh. I don't know what game God played with us. As soon as it was announced that the train on platform 16 was going to Prayagraj, chaos erupted. Neeraj got stuck in the stampede that ensued,” said Kailash Paswan (45), Neeraj’s relative. “No one can tell what is written in one's destiny. We fully hold the Railways accountable,” he added. Malti, who suffered injuries along with Dinesh, Amarjeet and Rekha, said: “I saw bodies lying right in front of me. I have never been so shaken in my life. We have lost Neeraj. he can never return.” Pooja Kumari (8) and Shanti Devi (40) Staying at: Panipat, Haryana Going to: Nawada, Bihar Shanti Devi and her husband Raj Kumar Majhi, along with daughter Pooja and two sons, were on their way to visit their parents at Nawada in Bihar. However, when they reached the railway station, they realised that the place was more crowded than usual. Shanti's elder brother Manoj said, “They called to say that there was a huge crowd. I asked them to go back home to Panipat.” The next time Raj Kumar got in touch with Manoj was to tell him that Shanti and Pooja had died in the stampede. “He said there was some confusion about where the train was arriving. first they thought it was on platform 12, then platform 13. The boys and Raj Kumar made it out alive but my sister and her daughter died,” said Manoj. The last Manoj heard from Raj Kumar was when he had left Delhi and was travelling towards Nawada with the bodies on Sunday morning. “They told me they will be here by late night but Raj Kumar’s phone has been switched off. we are worried sick at home,” he said. Pinky Devi (37) Staying at: Sangam Vihar, New Delhi Going to: Prayagraj Pinky Devi and 11 of her family members were planning to attend the Maha Kumbh at Prayagraj. Their tickets were booked and all they had to do was get to Platform 14 to board the Prayagraj Express. “We were on the staircase leading to the platform when we felt a huge push from the back. We could see people had fallen at the base of the stairs. We knew that we would fall too but everything happened so fast.,” said Sanjay Kumar, Pinky’s brother who survived the stampede. Sanjay recalled letting go of his daughter’s hand as he fell. “Everyone just kept piling on me,” he said. Sanjay remembered scrambling out of the pile-up and pulling his wife and daughter out of the crowd. “Jijaji (Pinky’s husband) and I pulled out all our family members but we could not see my sister anywhere. We found her half an hour later, under a few people. We tried to perform CPR on her for almost 40 minutes but she never woke up,” he added. Sanjay claimed he and his family had to traverse through the tracks to find an ambulance outside the station. “There was no one to help us.” Asha Devi (70) Staying at: New Delhi Going to: Buxar, Bihar A journey to his home turned into a nightmare for Anubhav Sahay (38), when he lost his 70-year-old mother, Asha Devi, in the stampede at New Delhi railway station. Sahay, a service provider for Caterpillar, a construction and mining equipment company, was accompanying his mother to their native village in Buxar. While climbing the stairs to change their platforms, disaster struck. “Had we received timely support, my mother would still be alive. No medical facilities were available inside the station. Can you imagine? In the Capital, there is no proper crowd management or emergency medical aid available at a railway station that sees such high footfall," Anubhav said. Asha Devi, a mother of four, had only Anubhav by her side that night. As chaos ensued, he desperately tried to help her regain her breath. "I sat there, rubbing her hands and feet, hoping to keep her alive. I even attempted CPR, just like many others were doing for their loved ones. But it was all in vain. Many ran through the station searching for a medical room, but we couldn’t find one,” he said. Hope flickered briefly when the Delhi Police arrived, but Anubhav was soon disheartened. "Instead of providing medical help, they focused on blocking entry and exit points.” After they reached Lok Nayak Hospital, Anubhav said that the doctors declared Asha Devi dead within five minutes. He said, “My mother cannot come back but there is a need for better infrastructure and crisis management to prevent such needless tragedies in the future. nobody should go through this.” he added. Manoj (47) Staying at: Nangloi, New Delhi Going to: Prayagraj “We couldn’t even take his body out from the platform exit. We had to enter the train from one side, and come out from the other side to cross the platform and carry him out,” said Tuntun Bhagat, son-in-law of Manoj, one of the 18 killed in the stampede. For Manoj, a resident of Chanchal Park in Delhi’s Nangloi, the trip to the Maha Kumbh in his home state of Uttar Pradesh with 13 members of his family soon turned into a nightmare. “First they announced that Prayagraj Special will arrive on platform 16. We were waiting there. But then it was announced that it would arrive on platform 12. later, they again announced something else. In the meantime, people started running,” Tuntun said, recalling the scene at the station minutes before the stampede. Tuntun said his family members got lost in the crowd. “I got injured but kept searching for the others. I could not find Manoj,” he added. Soon after, Tuntun found Manoj, lying unconscious on the platform floor. “I pressed his chest, but he didn’t respond. I asked the police for help, but they said 'bahar hoga jo hoga (whatever will be done, will be done outside)'. So I carried him out,” Tuntun said. Not finding any ambulance outside, Tuntun said the family called for one to reach the station. “We did everything and brought him to Lok Nayak Hospital. There, the doctors told us that he was no more.” Manoj, a welder by profession, leaves behind his wife Manju, and two sons, aged 18 and 15 years. He hailed from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh and had been living in Nangloi for the last 20 years. Vyom (25) Staying at: Bawana, Delhi Going to: Prayagraj Dharmvir Singh was sitting at his home in Ishwar Colony, Bawana, awaiting an update from his eldest son, Vyom, who was going to the Maha Kumbh. Around 10.30 pm on Saturday, he got a call from an unknown number. “Someone on the call said 'something has happened to your son, he is not responding',” recalled Dharmvir. An employee of Bawana hospital, Vyom was on his way to Prayagraj when confusion about the expected arrival of the Prayagraj Special train caused a deadly stampede at the station. Once Dharmvir reached the station, he was informed that a PCR van had taken Vyom to Lok Nayak Hospital. “When I reached the hospital, I was told that he is no more.”
