Kyoto Station Tragedy
On January 9, 1934, a crowd of 10,000 people were gathered at the Kyoto Station in Japan to send off 750 naval recruits of the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was tradition to give military members a big farewell, so friends and family of the recruits showed up to say goodbye. But the unprecedented number of people was far over the station’s capacity, and it ended up causing a tragedy.
A man fell on the stairs which lead down to the platform. Other people began to fall over him, and the crowd continued to press down on the bodies of people. Some people jumped out of the train when they could see the avalanche of people tumbling down the train, but it left on time despite everything.
