Friday morning Mumbai witnessed the most shameful sight after 23 people were crushed to death at the Elphinstone Road station due to sudden stampede.
Friday morning Mumbai witnessed the most shameful sight after 23 people were crushed to death at the Elphinstone Road station due to sudden stampede.
During this unfortunate incident, some among the crowd took undue advantage of using the distressing accident to make a quick buck. The Mumbai Police has reportedly said that it came across viral social media visuals that show miscreants stealing jewelry and ornaments from one of the dead victims of the Mumbai stampede.
23 people died on Friday in Mumbai on a narrow foot overbridge that connects the Elphinstone Road station on the Western Railway to Parel on the Central line. The deaths were a result of hasty stampede that suddenly took place during the commotion of unexpected rains.
The railways, in a statement released last evening, blamed rains, overcrowding and the spread of rumours for the tragedy.
1/Due to heavy rains, unfortunate incident of stampede like situation on NORTH FOOT OVER BRIDGE at Elphinstone Road at about 10.30 am pic.twitter.com/XXQc5U3ALS
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) September 29, 2017
Vinod Tawde, Minister in the Maharashtra government attributed the tragic incident to ‘multi-disciplinary crisis’ :
#Elphinstone stampede is a multi-disciplinary crisis; Railway Board, MMRDA, BMC &Police together with GoM have joined forces for resolution pic.twitter.com/4W0JzSOCvR
— Vinod Tawde (@TawdeVinod) September 30, 2017
Commuters and passersby were among the first to react to the deadly stampede. While there were samaritans who helped the injured in the time of distress, other, it seems, had other ideas on their minds, as reported by India Today.
Mumbai Police said that they have launched an ornament theft investigation after visuals went viral on social media showcasing unidentified persons stealing jewelry from the dead body of one of the Elphinstone Road stampede victims.
The victim was identified as a woman named Sumalata Shetty, one of the 23 people who lost their lives in the deadly crush at the Elphinstone Road station on Friday.
“Acting on the visuals which were circulated on social media, we have initiated investigation in the ornament theft case,” Assistant Commissioner of Police, Dadar, Sunil Deshmukh said. “No complaint in connection with the theft has been lodged as of yet, but we took sue motto cognizance and have started the investigation.”
The officer further said CCTV footage from the area along with mobile phone clips recorded by commuters at the time of the stampede are being thoroughly examined.
Meanwhile, Railways Minister Piyush Goayal today chaired a safety-review meeting in wake of Friday’s stampede. Goyal announced that general managers of railway divisions have been empowered to spend “whatever is necessary on safety”
Sharing decisions taken today in a high-level meeting on Railways Safety in Mumbai pic.twitter.com/8IQ1d9iKpF
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) September 30, 2017
Among the top priority list, below are some of the directives given by Goyal with immediate effect :
• No Budgetory restriction for foot-over bridges, platforms and pathways safety• Additional escalators sanctioned at crowded Suburban Mumbai stations• CCTV cameras in all trains within next 15 months