The Latest: Officials say 22 dead, 32 hurt in India stampede

Authorities are investigating what caused the stampede on a raised staircase of a pedestrian bridge linking two commuter railway stations in India’s west-coast financial capital.

Indian broadcasters showed images of some people leaping over the railing to escape the crush, while others were crushed in the melee or fell underfoot and were trampled.

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1:20 p.m.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his condolences to the families of people who died in a stampede in India.

Authorities have said 22 people were killed in the crash and 27 were injured. Mumbai police appealed to citizens to donate blood to help the injured.

Modi tweeted, “Prayers with those who are injured.”

The crush occurred on a pedestrian bridge between two railway stations. People were crowding under the bridge’s canopy in heavy rain, and falling concrete apparently made people surge forward in fear the bridge would collapse.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said the incident was being investigated.

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12:45 p.m.

An Indian railways official says the toll from a stampede in Mumbai has risen to 22 dead.

Junior Railway Minister Manoj Sinha says another 27 were injured in the stampede that started on a pedestrian bridge during the Friday morning rush.

The stampede broke out on the bridge connecting two railway stations. People started surging to escape when concrete falling onto the railing made them think the bridge would collapse.

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noon

Police at least 21 people have been killed in a stampede at a railway station in the west-coast Indian city of Mumbai.

City police officer Rajaram Patel says another 20 people were injured when panicked pedestrians pushed forward to the end of an overcrowded bridge, with some people falling underfoot and being trampled.

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11:45 a.m.

Police say a stampede at a Mumbai local train station has seriously injured at least 20 people amid heavy rains in the morning rush hours.

Police said the stampede was triggered by a rumour that a pedestrian overpass collapsed after concrete chunks fell. Chaos prevailed as people surged forward to leave the bridge.

Paramedics have taken the injured to a hospital, the police control room said.

Deadly stampedes are fairly common during Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small areas with few safety or crowd control measures.

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press