'Crowd mistook phool gir gaya cry as pul gir gaya'

Mumbai: As the railways investigates the Elphinstone Road station stampede, a student survivor has told the inquiry panel that a flower vendor’s cry of phoolgirgaya (flowers have fallen) being mistaken as pul girgaya (the bridge has fallen) might have set off the panic.

However, a senior railway official said they were yet to ascertain if this was the sole cause of the mishap. On September 29, a massive crowd of morning rush hour commuters trampled over each other on the stairwell of a narrow foot overbridge (FOB) at the station, leaving 23 dead and more than 30 injured.

The Western Railway on Tuesday launched an inquiry into the circumstances leading to the stampede on the overbridge, where vendors selling their flowers and other products are a common sight. “A woman injured in the stampede told the inquiry panel yesterday (Tuesday)that a flower vendor uttered the words phoolgirgaya, which others mistook for pul girgaya,” a senior Western Railway official on Wednesday said.

She told the inquiry panel that this set off panic in the crowd on the stair and they started running, trampling one another, Western Railway’s chief spokesperson Ravindra Bhakar said.

The 19-year-old woman, who was going to Vile Parle for her coaching classes, got stuck on the staircase. She survived the stampede with some injuries and admitted to the KEM hospital in Parel and later discharged, he said. Bhakar, however, said it was too early to conclude that this was the sole reason for the tragedy. “We will try to get detailed accounts of other injured passengers, locals who rescued them and witnesses as a part of our in-depth inquiry.”

Some other survivors had claimed that a short circuit led to a panic among the people crammed on the narrow bridge which resulted in the stampede. A senior Western Railway official earlier said they have already put out advertisements appealing to people to come forward to share information on the stampede.

The statements of two seriously injured passengers were recorded on Tuesday, he said. If other injured passengers find it difficult to visit the office set up by the railways for the purpose, teams would visit them to record their statements, he had said.