India, Feb. 17 -- In just 45 chaotic minutes, a flood of passengers and a series of mismanaged circumstances - delayed trains, contradictory platform announcements, and overwhelmed infrastructure - transformed the busy New Delhi railway station into a death trap for 18 people on Saturday night.

The tragedy, the deadliest at a train station since the Elphinstone Station stampede in Mumbai in 2017, unfolded across a platforms 14 and 15 and a pedestrian bridge that led to it when thousands of pilgrims seeking to reach Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh and regular passengers converged in what officials described as "an unprecedented rush".

According to eyewitnesses present at the station, crowds had begun swelling abnormally at the Ajmeri Gate a...