Women face the brunt

All the victims of Saturday8217;s stampede at New Delhi railway station were women. At the Northern Railway Central Hospital near the stati...

All the victims of Saturday8217;s stampede at New Delhi railway station were women. At the Northern Railway Central Hospital near the station, eyewitnesses8212;those injured and their kin8212;recalled how a sudden onrush of thousands of passengers towards the waiting Jansadharan Express triggered off a stampede down the stairs towards platforms 2 and 3.

8216;8216;Even after the people had stopped falling8212;though the injured were screaming in pain8212;no rescuers were seen for nearly 20 minutes,8217;8217; recalled Kamal Kumar Vohra, husband of Neeru Vohra, who suffered injuries on her foot and arm. Her husband said relatives of the passengers had to move them from the stairs and the platform all by themselves.

Somaru 35, who was injured in the head, said that even an hour after the incident, some of the injured were still waiting for help next to at least two bodies. The railway authorities could provide very little information on the injured or the missing for hours. 8216;8216;I have still not received any information about the whereabouts of my younger brother, who is missing after the stampede,8217;8217; Somaru added.

Mahesh, brother-in-law of Kanta Devi 32, one of the dead, said the authorities were totally unprepared to deal with the situation. 8216;8216;We have been waiting here for nearly two hours to be informed about when the body will be handed over. Nobody seems to have any information or directions,8217;8217; he said at the hospital.

While the second victim was identified as 14-year old Lakshmi of Tughlakabad, the other three women could not be identified till late in the night. However, they all had injury marks on their heads.

A small number of those injured trickled into Ram Manohar Lahoia Hospital. At 4 pm, the surgical ward at the hospital had to attend to two victims8212;Aarti Nath and Mohammed Tabrez.

While Tabrez 19 was brought in unconscious, Nath was discharged after receiving medical attention for bruises, cuts and trauma. A few others came in with smaller injuries and were allowed to leave after medical aid.

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8216;8216;We were trying to get each other to the exit as we realised that one of us had been injured badly,8217;8217; said Sarvesh, who had gone to see off his family. 8216;8216;We formed a chain and I led the way out as it would have been impossible otherwise. We could see children being pushed and trampled upon and suffocated as we tried to pull them into our chain.8217;8217; said Sarvesh, a survivor.