Mumbai Prabhadevi Station Stampede: Short Circuit Led to Panic?

Mumbai: At least 20 people were killed and 30 seriously injured in a stampede at Mumbai’s Prabhadevi Railway Station on Friday morning, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

A Press Trust of India report quoted police sources as saying that a short-circuit accompanied with a loud sound near the footover bridge may have led to panic, resulting in the stampede.

The stampede occurred at 10:46 am along the narrow footover bridge leading to the exit of the station on the western railway of the Mumbai local train services.

Television footage from the spot showed people trying to climb over the railings on the stairway to escape the stampede.

The footover bridge links the Prabhadevi Railway Station and Parel suburban stations in Mumbai.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, who hails from Maharashtra and is in Mumbai for a scheduled event, is likely to visit the spot.

Prabhadevi Railway Station, which was earlier known as Elphinstone Road Station, is located in the heart of central Mumbai, within walking distance of many corporate and blue-collar workplaces.

To the west of the station is the tony Worli district, home to some of the most expensive commercial and housing real estate. To its east lie the former textile mill heartlands of Lalbaug and Bhoiwada. The mills have been converted to super luxury malls.