Worst ever tragedy in recent times at M. Chinnaswamy cricket stadium

Bengaluru: The joy of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team lifting its maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) champions trophy after a 18-year-long wait, didn’t even last for 18 hours, as the victory celebration organised at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium yesterday, turned gory with 11 losing their lives in the stampede.

The deceased include teens and youngsters, identified as- Poornachandra (26), a Civil Engineer hailing from K.R. Pet taluk in Mandya district, Bhoomik (20), an engineering student, son of Lakshman and Ashwini couple, currently residing in Bengaluru (native of Kuppugodu village, Belur taluk, Hassan district), Sahana, a Software Engineer, hailing from Kolar and residing in Bengaluru, Divyamshi (14), a class 9 student and daughter of Shivakumar and Ashwini, residents of Kanakasri Layout, Bengaluru, eight-year-old Dimple, Devi and Shravan and others. Over 47 suffered injuries in the incident, with 33 among them admitted at various hospitals in the city.

Even as the whole of the State was celebrating the victory of RCB against Punjab Super Kings (PBKS) in the high voltage finals held on Monday, RCB franchise had announced to take out the victory parade of RCB squad from HAL Airport to M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, in a social media post at about 8 am yesterday. Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) had made announcement about organising victory celebration at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium at 4.30 pm. Meanwhile, the State Government had organised a felicitation ceremony to honour RCB team at the grand steps of Vidhana Soudha at 3 pm.

With their favourite players assembling at three different venues, the ardent fans were eager to catch the glimpse of the players. As the time drew closer, lakhs of fans made their way to the stadium, with the crowd of an estimated 3 lakh outnumbering the actual holding capacity of 35,000 at the stadium.

No sooner the gates 18, 19 and 20 at the stadium were opened, there was a mad rush of fans, who vied with each other, only to cause commotion, forcing the huge contingent of Police to lathi charge the crowd and somehow succeeded in bringing the situation under control.

The opening of Gate No. 12 of the stadium is primarily believed to be the cause for the stampede, as thousands of fans barged through, with the Police allegedly failing to rein in them.

With the fans jostling for space, Police refrained from using mild force to control them, for the fear of causing any stampede like incident, but their worst fears turned out true in no time, as the mad crowd allegedly started climbing on the shoulders of each others. The crowd went berserk and broke through the barricades installed around and three among them tripped only to suffer leg fracture in the melee.

Heart rending scenes were witnessed, as the Police rushed to the rescue of victims, trying all their best to revive their condition. As it was difficult for ambulance to wade through the crowd, the Police themselves carried the victims and shifted them in their vehicles to nearby Bowring Hospital at Shivajinagar and Vydehi Super Speciality Hospital on Vittal Mallya Road.

Six of the injured succumbed at Bowring Hospital, four breathed their last at Vydehi Hospital and one died at Manipal Hospital. The bodies were handed over to the family members after performing autopsy the same night.