BETHNAL Green station is one of the busiest on the London Underground network — but it has a dark and shocking secret.

In 1943, 173 people were crushed and choked to death when a 300-strong crowd piled down the dimly-lit steps during the Blitz — and few people know about it because of a shady government cover-up.

16 To get to the Bethnal Green tube people had to travel down the escalator (similar to this one at Bounds Green) Credit: Hulton Archive - Getty

It was a tragedy which unfurled within just 15 seconds when a mother and her daughter tripped down the stairs and others fell on top of them and became tangled in a mass of bodies.

Some escaped, but almost 200, most of them women and children, were crushed and asphyxiated.

Tomorrow marks the 77th anniversary of the disaster — which is said to be the the UK's largest single loss of civilian life during World War II.

Here, we retell the harrowing and forgotten story of the tube's biggest tragedy.

16 A child is believed to have slipped as people entered down the first 19 steps to shelter Credit: AP:Associated Press

A pile of suffocating humans

The tragic story began at 8.17pm on the evening of March 3 in a very deprived East End of London.

Rumours of a night-time air-raid from Germany and Italy sent hundreds heading from pubs and cinemas to the then unused Central line tube station — which had room for 5,000 to shelter, as well as a make-shift hospital, library, loos and a canteen. 16 The Bethnal Green Tube Stampede saw 173 perish within just 15 seconds Credit: Rex Features Soon, wailing air-raid sirens confirmed that a threat appeared to be imminent — and those already not below ground quickly headed for the shelter. Suddenly, there was a loud bang — and the locals, mainly women and children, panicked, thinking the noise was coming from nearby bombs. They began to speed up their steps to reach the platforms — hundreds of people piling down 19 steps into the entrance hall which was only 15 x 11 feet, lit by one 25-watt bulb, devoid of a central rail and slippy from a recent rain shower.

16 The East End had been badly hit by the Blitz Credit: Getty - Contributor

Then, according to an eyewitness, someone shouted "it's a bomb!" — triggering screaming and a great shove. Some eyewitnesses say a child fell three steps up from the bottom, while official reports state that a woman tripped while carrying a baby and a bundle of bedding.

An elderly man fell on top of them. And before the trio could get up, the rest of the crowd surged forward - with those at the back having no idea what had happened. People started to fall over like human dominoes, and before they could get up others were falling on them, trapping and suffocating them. Screams, groans and whimpers filled the entrance hall — then nothing.

16 The as yet unused central line tube station had room for more than 5,000 to shelter during WW2 Credit: Rex Features

16 People sought shelter in the underground network (including at Elephant & Castle tube) during the bombs on London Credit: Getty - Contributor 16 People would sleep on the platform and tracks Credit: Corbis - Getty 16 Hospitals and canteens were created below ground during the war years Credit: Getty - Contributor 16 The entrance to the Bethnal Green Tube in 1943, when the disaster took place Credit: Rex Features Mangled bodies and a five-month-old baby Within just 15 seconds 173 people were dead, their lifeless bodies mangled in a mass grave. The official magistrate's report described the scene as: "The stairway was converted from a corridor to a charnel house in ten to 15 seconds." However, rather than the expected chaos, the minutes that followed saw a remarkably calm clean-up operation. 16 The government wanted to maintain morale and so the War Office would spike certain news stories Credit: Getty - Contributor 16 A report kept in the public records office confirmed there had been enemy aircraft in the area at the time Credit: Hulton Archive - Getty 16 In the morning, the disaster had been completely covered up Credit: AP:Associated Press Men were told to lay out the bodies and then load them onto lorries to be taken away. Most had died of suffocation. A total of 27 men, 84 women and 62 children — the youngest was just five months — were then buried nearby. Up to 90 injured were also taken to the hospital for treatment. 16 The War Office censored journalists' reports Credit: Hulton Archive - Getty The next morning, Londoners went about their business as usual, no idea about the tragedy that had unfolded on those very steps the night before. A government cover up This is because at that time, the papers were not allowed to publish anything that could harm the war effort. The media were forced to keep silent for two whole days before they were finally allowed to report on what happened that dreaded night. Even then, they were not allowed to identify the station and rather than a stampede, they were made to report that it was a direct hit from a bombing raid. "It was wartime and they had to hush all that up," survivor Alf Morris told the Daily Mail in 2008, particularly in the close-knit community of the bomb-battered East End.

16 A small plaque was erected to commemorate those who died in the worst civilian disaster during the Second World War Credit: Rex Features 16 In 2017, the Stairway To Heaven memorial was installed Credit: Rex Features It was two years before the public were allowed to know the truth — and, even then, there were holes in the magistrate's report. People questioned why there were no police on duty at the steps, and why people who were so used to the Blitz were so spooked. 16 The steps today look exactly the same Credit: Rex Features Until recently there was just a small plaque above the entrance to commemorate the victims. In 2017, a much larger 'Stairway To Heaven' memorial was installed.

But the steps — which, although painted and with a rail installed, are exactly the same — serve as the most poignant reminder of the tragedy that hit the UK that fateful day.