At least 15 killed in New Delhi stampede as thousands cram into railway for huge religious festival

dailyrecord.co.uk:

At least 15 religious pilgrims have died in a devastating stampede at a railway station. The incident occurred as thousands of devotees attempted to board trains bound for the world's largest religious festival.The fatal crush happened in New Delhi, India's capital, on Saturday evening around 8pm.

Pilgrims were eager to reach Praygraj for the Hindu festival Kumbh Mela, which is celebrated every 12 years and attracts tens of millions of worshippers, but has a history of deadly crowd-related incidents.

The chaos unfolded as followers jostled for space on trains heading to the city, which is erected temporarily to accommodate the massive influx of festival-goers.The deceased were taken to New Delhi's Lok Nayak Hospital, where medical official Dr Ritu Saxena told AFP: "I can confirm 15 deaths at the hospital." Most victims of the stampede in northern India are believed to have endured blunt force injuries or suffocation.

The deputy medical superintendent said: "They don't have any open injury. Most [likely died from] hypoxia or maybe some blunt injury but that would only be confirmed after an autopsy."New Delhi's deputy police commissioner for railways detailed the circumstances leading up to the stampede in a statement.