Poonam Rohilla, 36, called her son just hours before boarding a train to the Maha Kumbh festival, telling him that the crowd at the New Delhi railway station at the Indian capital was overwhelming and she was considering turning back. But chaos erupted before she could.
At least 18 people were killed in the stampede on Saturday as thousands of Hindu pilgrims rushed to board a train to the festival, a Hindu religious gathering that is held once every 12 years at the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
