The Bridge That Bled: 400 People Died In Mathura’s Forgotten Festival Tragedy

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Last Updated:May 22, 2025, 14:46 IST

On July 17, 1962, a bid mishap successful Mathura during the Govardhan Mudia Purnima Mela resulted successful the deaths and injuries of hundrends of pilgrims riding connected the train’s rooftop

Frustrated by passengers riding connected the train's rooftop ignoring repeated warnings, the operator reportedly sped crossed the bridge, resulting successful grievous injuries and instant deaths. (Local18)

Mathura, 1 of India’s astir revered spiritual centres and the birthplace of Lord Krishna, is known for its spiritual festivals and age-old traditions. However, amidst the divine celebrations and faith-filled gatherings, a catastrophic railway calamity occurred 63 years agone that inactive haunts the memories of those who witnessed it.

This devastating incident, which unfolded during the Govardhan Mudia Purnima Mela successful 1962, turned a ineffable solemnisation into a country of bloodshed and nationalist mourning.

The Date That Changed Everything: July 17, 1962

On the aboriginal greeting of Tuesday, July 17, 1962, thousands of devotees had gathered successful Mathura for Guru Purnima, a important spiritual event. Due to constricted transport options and overwhelming crowds, galore pilgrims were forced to question by climbing onto the roofs of trains, a communal but unsafe signifier astatine the time.

At the centre of this calamity stood the scissors bridge, a benignant of dual-purpose railway span implicit the Yamuna River. It served some trains and vehicles, but was closed to roadworthy postulation whenever a bid approached. That morning, a rider bid connected the North Eastern Railway enactment (which connected regions specified arsenic North Bengal, New Jalpaiguri, and Assam) sped crossed the span astatine astir 4 am.

The effect was catastrophic. Hundreds of pilgrims perched atop the bid were either struck by the bridge’s alloy beams oregon thrown disconnected entirely, resulting successful grievous injury, including amputations arsenic good arsenic decapitations. Panic and screams filled the aerial arsenic radical ran successful fear. The full country unfolded successful moments; excessively speedy for immoderate intervention. The bid turned reddish with humor aft the high-speed crossing. Blood was scattered everywhere, with the roofs, windows, and doors of the bid drenched successful red.

Eyewitnesses Recall The Horror

The aftermath was apocalyptic. The witnesses of the bid calamity saw victims, adjacent aft decapitations, wandering aimlessly for moments earlier collapsing lifeless to the ground. The greeting soundlessness was shattered by screams and chaos. They described the bid moving reddish with blood, its roof, windows, and doors soaked successful the aftermath of carnage. Cries of symptom and panic echoed implicit the Yamuna, arsenic surviving passengers tried to assistance the injured oregon find missing loved ones.

Sushil Sharma, present based successful London, was a young lad astatine the time. He vividly recalls rushing to the Yamuna banks aft proceeding the commotion. “I saw bodies everywhere, galore were unrecognisable. Blood covered the train, the bridge, the riverbanks… It was beyond horrifying," helium said.

Mohan Swaroop Bhatia, a elder writer who documented the aftermath, recalled that contempt repeated warnings from railway unit against rooftop travel, passengers ignored the advice. “Thousands came to execute the Govardhan parikrama, and determination simply weren’t capable carriages," helium explained.

Frustrated by the deficiency of cooperation, the bid operator is believed to person sped done the bridge, which lacked the information provisions to grip specified a crowd.

Once serving arsenic a roadworthy for buses, cars, trucks, and tongas, the span became the country of an unimaginable tragedy. The mishap near an indelible mark, becoming a sorrowful section successful the past of some Mathura and Indian Railways.

Even today, the specified notation of the 1962 Mudia Purnima calamity sends chills down the spines of locals, and particularly the aged who lived done the trauma. In a onshore wherever divinity meets devotion, it was a stark reminder of however easy solemnisation tin crook into catastrophe erstwhile information is overlooked.

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Location :

Mathura, India, India

First Published:

News viral The Bridge That Bled: 400 People Died In Mathura’s Forgotten Festival Tragedy