New Delhi stampede: A husband's desperate search for wife as death toll hits 18

'The first thing we saw was a sea of heads, endless people trying to move towards platform 14. As we got closer, we got pushed from behind. In the commotion, I lost (hold of) my wife's hand. And since then, I have been searching for her, he said.

New Delhi: Clutching his mobile phone, 58-year-old Gupteshwar Yadav shows his wife's picture to media personnel, a sense of despair and desperation writ large on his face.

He wanted any clue from anywhere that would help him find his wife. He lost her Saturday evening during the stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station that, according to officials, left 18 dead and several injured. "I came to Delhi with my elder brother and wife from Uttar Pradesh. We were waiting at platform number 13 for the Prayagraj train when a sudden announcement informed us it would now depart from platform 14. The chaos that followed left us in a panic," he said.

Yadav recalled holding his wife's (56) hand as they struggled to make their way toward platform 14.

"The first thing we saw was a sea of heads, endless people trying to move towards platform 14. As we got closer, we got pushed from behind. In the commotion, I lost my wife's hand. And since then, I have been searching for her," he said.

Yadav visited the LNJP Hospital, RML Hospital, and the Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital trying to find out if she was there among the injured. But no one provided him any piece of information about his wife.

Yadav's younger brother, Cheteshwar Yadav, claimed that not a single railway official was present to help people during the initial chaos.

"No one stepped forward to assist the injured, who were screaming for help. Instead, many people from nearby platforms pulled out their mobile phones and started recording videos. It was the young passengers at the station who tried to manage the crowd on their own," he added.

According to police, two major trains -- the Swatantrata Senani Express and the Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express -- were already delayed, leaving platforms 13, 14, and 15 packed with restless travellers. Then came an announcement that a special train to Prayagraj would depart from platform 16.

"A train to Prayagraj was already at platform 14, where the Prayagraj Express usually departs. When the announcement about the special train came, many passengers assumed it was their regular train and rushed toward platform 16," police sources said.

Eighteen people were killed in the overnight stampede at the packed New Delhi Railway Station, with a senior railway official stating on Sunday that the tragedy occurred when some passengers slipped and fell on others while coming down from a foot overbridge.

More than a dozen people were also injured in the stampede as the railway station witnessed a surge of passengers waiting to board trains for Prayagraj -- where the Maha Kumbh is underway -- on platforms 14 and 15.