Mumbai: At least 22 rail commuters lost their lives and 36 seriously injured in a stampede on the north foot over-bridge (FOB) at Elphinstone Road Station on the Western Railway (WR) route.

Heavy rains at around 10.30am during the rush hour had slowed the exit of commuters from a very narrow staircase on the north side and it was at this time “someone tripped and fell and soon after others fell one over the other leading to a stampede,” said a commuter. “I, too, was in the crowd but I had a chance to breath and move out and therefore could help others.”

People also panicked on hearing a rumour that the bridge had collapsed and there was a short circuit.

It was a horrifying, chaotic scene as commuters caught in that crowd tried to climb over the staircase and jump down whilst the unfortunate ones succumbed under the rush whilst some just managed to push themselves out but fell down.

One bystander, Kishor Kakkar, complained agitatedly that it took “half an hour for the police and railway authorities to reach the site and we had to pull out people and put them in taxis.”

The FOB connects the Elphinstone Road station with Parel station on the Central Railway side.

The injured were all taken to King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital where there was an appeal later for blood donation. Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, who arrived in Mumbai to take stock of the situation, said a high level probe headed by the chief safety officer, WR, has been ordered into the incident. He also visited the injured in the hospital.

The six-foot wide narrow staircase is normally crowded and numerous complaints from commuters and rail organisations have fallen on deaf ears. There has been a plan to build a wider bridge for the past three years, but so far no signs of construction. This station once catered to the textile mill workers but with the closure of most mills, modern offices have come in place with a new set of working community — office-goers. However, in spite of the rapid rise in commuters, the infrastructure at this station as well as many others still date back to the British era.

“Accidents of this kind are just waiting to happen, including in Kalyan, where a narrow bridge is used by thousands of people,” says Manohar Shelar who heads a Western Railway Commuters Association. “People also linger on in the FOBs when rail announcements are not perfect and they don’t know which platform to run to for the train.

“Budget allocation for railways has actually gone up tremendously during the NDA rule but the rail administration is unable to understand what are the priorities. It is certainly a failure on the part of the Railways,” he said.

Anyone who has ever travelled on a suburban train in this city can easily empathise with the plight of Mumbaikars — the huge rush of people on bridges, staircases, platforms and finally if one can push and nudge for a little space in the train to reach one’s workplace on time.

State BJP leader Vinod Tawde announced a compensation of Rs500,000 to the families of the deceased and said the government would bear the medical expenses of the injured.

Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, belonging to the Shiv Sena, visited the site and said it was the responsibility of the WR authorities to ensure safety of commuters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Saddened and shocked to know about the tragic stampede at Elphinstone railway station, foot over-bridge. My heart goes out to the families who lost their loved ones and got affected. Spoke to Chief Secretary and @CPMumbaiPolice; asked them to reach hospital to monitor and ensure that everyone gets all the help.”

It’s a sad day for Mumbaikars on the eve of the Hindu festival of Dussehra when people were getting ready for a weekend of celebrations. Even as leaders expressed their condolences to the families of the deceased, the person on the street is angry. Women commuters at the site of the stampede angrily said that no one was listening to their complaints or plight and that it was time this maximum city got maximum attention.

One young commuter, Asha Kamble, who has just started working in Parel, wondered why political leaders make bombastic promises when they were unable to provide minimum amenities on the suburban rail network used by over 7.5 million people daily.

Some others also questioned as to why politicians who were so eager to rename Elphinstone Road station as Prabhadevi station did not care about the safety of commuters.