Stampede scare at Mumbai airport as 25,000 aspirants appear for limited vacancies

There was near stampede scene at Mumbai airport on Tuesday (July 16) as thousands flooded a recruitment drive for loader positions.

Over 25,000 applicants showed up for just 2,216 vacancies, overwhelming staff from Air India Airport Services Limited, the company that handles ground operations at many Indian airports.

The video making rounds on social media shows the applicants pushing each other to reach the form counters.

According to reports, the applicants had to wait for hours without food and water.

The airport loaders play a crucial role in keeping flights on schedule. Their duties involve load and unload passenger luggage efficiently onto and off of the aircraft. They assist in loading and unloading cargo and freight onto airplanes. Each aircraft requires at least five loaders to handle all these duties.

The salary of airport loaders ranges between ₹ 20,000 to ₹ 25,000 a month, but most make over ₹ 30,000 after overtime allowances.

Notably, the Mumbai airport incident followsanother chaotic recruitment scene reported in Gujarat just days ago.

In Ankleshwar, Gujarat, a video went viral showing a near stampede at a walk-in interview for just 10 positions in a private firm.

Around 1,800 jobseekers showed up, overwhelming the venue and causing a railing to collapse under the weight of the crowd. Thankfully, there were no serious injuries. These incidents highlight the intense competition for even basic jobs in India.

Taking a dig at the ruling government, Congress said, the video exposed the BJP's Gujarat model and the ruling party was imposing this model of unemployment across the country.

The Mumbai airport video, provoked Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad to raise the unemployment issue and target the BJP.

The Congress MP said, “the unemployment situation has become so bad in the past 10 years that youngsters are ready to fight wars for Russia and Israel. "Whenever they hear of jobs, they gather in thousands and there is a fear of stampede," she said in a Hindi post on X.

Air India is yet to respond to the viral video.

(With inputs from agencies)