New Delhi stampede: Tight security, barricades at Lok Nayak hospital

Hundreds of paramilitary personnel were deployed and the entry and exit gates sealed, denying access to everyone except medical staff at the LNJP hospital, where victims were brought hours after a deadly stampede at the New Delhi railway station late on Saturday evening that left at least 18 people dead and more than a dozen injured.

Chaos erupted at the station when a massive crowd rushed to board trains to Prayagraj, where the Maha Kumbh is being held, triggering the stampede.

There was a heavy deployment of paramilitary forces outside the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narain (LNJP) Hospital and the gates to the facility were barricaded with police ropes, preventing entry. All the entry and exit gates were sealed, with security personnel enforcing strict access control.

Visitors were thoroughly checked and only those with official reports were allowed inside the Delhi government-run hospital.

Even media personnel were denied access, with strict orders in place to restrict movement within the hospital premises.

Some distraught family members were not allowed to enter the casualty and orthopaedic departments, where the injured were being treated.

Desperate to locate their missing loved ones among the admitted patients, they were turned away after officials merely checked the lists in their possession.

Many of them complained that none of the hospitals, where the victims were taken, allowed them to search for their relatives and denied them the opportunity to file missing complaints.

At the LNJP Hospital, which received the highest number of victims, the atmosphere was tense.

A walk through the campus revealed an unusually low number of people compared to a normal day. Security checks were being conducted at every ward, allowing only one person to enter at a time.

Inside, everyone was being questioned and no one was allowed near the ward where the stampede victims were admitted.

Each injured patient was accompanied by three to four police personnel or medical staff to prevent unauthorised contact. Even as the patients were taken for MRI scans and other tests, they remained under strict police supervision.

These wards had no regular patients and even the family members of the victims were not allowed to meet them.

The mortuary was locked. By 9:30 am, all the formalities related to post-mortem were completed. The bodies of the deceased were handed over to their families, who then left for their respective places.