Mumbai, 27 Oct

Chaos and cacophony reigned at Western Railway's heavily-patronised Bandra Terminus on Sunday morning after a mass of people tried to board a moving train to reach their native places for Diwali and Chhath, leaving nine injured, many becoming the subject of harrowing social media videos.

The incident took place around 2:45 am when passengers rushed to board the unreserved 22921 Bandra-Gorakhpur Antyodaya Express while it was moving into platform number 1 from Bandra Terminus yard.

While scheduled departure of the 22-coach train was at 5:10am, officials said during such festival rush passengers often scurry to occupy seats as quickly as possible since there is no reservation.

Videos that flooded social media since morning showed people running and shouting, and some passengers injured and bloodied.

One video showed a man with blood oozing out of his wounds, while another injured passenger lay next to him. Shockingly, several people were seen boarding the compartment even as a passenger with a leg injury lay by the door.

Another video doing the rounds of social media showed a Railway Protection Force constable carrying an injured passenger on his shoulder, while another personnel was seen ferrying a passenger to the hospital in a makeshift cloth stretcher.

Amid the chaos, local residents and those present on other platforms were also seen in several videos helping the injured persons.

Incidentally, civic officials said nine persons were injured and identified them as Shabhir Abdul Rehman (40), Parmeshwar Sukhdar Gupta (28), Ravindra Harihar Chuma (30), Ramsevak Ravindra Prasad Prajapati (29), Sanjay Tilakram Kangay (27), Divyanshu Yogendra Yadav (18), Mohammad Shareef Shaikh (25), Indrajith Sahani (19) and Noor Mohammad Shaikh.

Police said Sahani and Noor Mohammad Shaikh had been rushed to nearby Bhabha Hospital in a critical condition.

However, a statement from Western Railway said two persons were injured.

The statement also informed that 130 festival special trains were being run to various destinations, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, in view of the upcoming Diwali and Chhath festivals.

In all, these special trains will make 2,300 trips from Mumbai Central and Bandra in the metropolis, as well as Valsad and Udhna in neighbouring Gujarat, the WR statement added.-PTI