Lucknow: The stampede at Charbagh railway station in which at least 16 people were killed was triggered after people fell over one another in a staircase while trying to rescue an old woman who had fallen, eye witnesses said.

"It all started when some rallyists while trying to save an old woman, who slipped on the stair case on platform number seven, fell on one another causing a stampede," Ram Prasad from Agra, who lost his cousin Lakshman in the stampede, said.

Several rallyists, who were in a hurry to board the Ganga-Gomti Express, which was already on platform, went crashing all the way down to the platform causing several deaths, eye witnesses said.

Several people were trampled by the massive crowd on the narrow platform while some were simply suffocated to death.

A little later, some BSP workers, who had climbed on the roof of the Barauni- Amritsar Express standing on the platform, came in contact with the high voltage live wires killing three BSP workers on the spot, they said, adding many BSP workers also received injuries in the incident. In the resultant stampede several persons toppled over one another causing serious injuries to many.

Earlier, the railway station looked like a sea of humanity with thousands of cheerful BSP supporters jostling with one another in a bid to board the first available train back home after participating in the party's "Dhikkar rally" when tragedy struck.

Eye witnesses attribute the tragedy to the "uncontrollable crowd and mismanagement at the station".

As thousands of rallyists continued to pour in to the already crowded platforms it was chaos all around.

Angry over the death of their party colleagues, BSP workers went berserk attacking ordinary passengers, eye witnesses said. With very little security personnel around to control the mob, the ordinary passengers had to face the wrath of the rallyists for no fault of theirs.

Hundreds of such passengers had to literally flee the station with many of them losing their luggage in the process.

There was virtually no civil or Railway police force to control the mob, which dragged passengers from the trains and assaulted them, they said.

As the news of the stampede spread, thousands of rallyists who were outside the station rushed inside.

Several Lucknow-bound trains were made to halt at the outer signal and the passengers were asked to alight there, as the authorities did not want to take any risk.

Guards and Drivers of several trains fled from the platform as a result of which many trains could not leave for their respective destinations.

The injured were rushed to the nearby hospital where several state ministers were present to make the necessary arrangements.

The crowd could be managed only after police reinforcements reached the station.

PTI