Bengaluru: The frenzied celebration in Bengaluru over RCB winning the IPL after 18 long years took a tragic turn with at least 11 people feared dead in stampedes at two locations. The chaos began after a crowd gathered near M Chinnaswamy Stadium for a felicitation of the team held by the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA).
Two of the 11 people died during another frenzied crush on the premises of the Vidhana Soudha, where the RCB squad proceeded from the airport to meet with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Visuals showed police shifting injured and unconscious people to a nearby hospital. Many people who came to watch the celebrations fainted amid the stampede, eyewitnesses said.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the crowd was "uncontrollable". "I apologise for the overcrowding," Mr Shivakumar said. "We arranged more than 5,000 personnel. This is a young vibrant crowd, we can't use lathi on them."
"I have spoken to the Police Commissioner. I will also go to the hospital later. I do not want to disturb the doctors who are taking care of the patients. The exact number cannot be told now. We appeal to the people to remain calm. We shortened the programme; it ended within 10 minutes... Lakhs of people came," Mr Shivakumar told reporters.
The scenes at some Bengaluru Metro stations near the stadium also showed huge crowds coming out of trains and taking the stairs.
At the nearby Bowring Hospital, ambulances carrying injured people continued to arrive, drop them, and head back again to the stadium.
People were seen climbing trees and sitting on branches to catch a glimpse of the celebration. The Karnataka government had cancelled a victory parade from Vidhana Soudha to the stadium, citing security reasons.
The police said they have been controlling the celebrating crowds since Tuesday night. Throughout the night, the police have been engaged in managing them and ensuring no untoward incidents occurred, news agency IANS reported.
Huge crowds also turned up on the Vidhana Soudha premises to see the felicitation programme of the RCB by the government.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi criticised the Karnataka government for poor planning and crowd mismanagement.
"... It's heartbreaking to see such loss because of poor planning and crowd mismanagement. The state government in Karnataka has clearly failed in its responsibility. Celebrations is one thing, but the state government without proper planning, without taking emergency services into confidence, took this urgent and unfortunate decision. This could have been avoided. The government is responsible for this and accountability needs to be fixed," Mr Joshi said in a post on X.
Mr Shivakumar greeted the RCB team after they landed in Bengaluru on Wednesday. He presented bouquets to each player and especially greeted Virat Kohli, presenting him with both the RCB team flag and the Kannada flag.
Source: NDTV
