The moment of joy turned into tragedy for Bengaluru after confusion occurred among the fans of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) during the team’s victory parade outside Chinnaswamy Stadium. While the preparations regarding crowd control were already taken care of before the start of the victory parade, what exactly went wrong leading to this urban tragedy?
Free passes, overcrowding and limited seats at the Chinnaswamy Stadium are said to be some of the major reasons that led to the stampede that left at least 11 people dead and over 30 injured.
The initial chaos that later turned into a stampede began as several cricket enthusiasts who did not have entry tickets to the stadium tried to swarm into the premises along with those who had valid tickets, news agency PTI reported, citing police sources. Soon after, chaos erupted, and some people fell to the ground.
“People were rushing in droves towards the stadium, and many were pushing towards the gates. The entry gates are small. Only those with passes or tickets were allowed inside, but many had gathered simply to be part of the celebrations, without tickets," said Sandeep Prathamesh, a witness to the Stampede in Bengaluru.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that 11 people died and 33 were injured following the stampede near the stadium. Most of the deceased were youths, including men and women, with several of them being students.
The strategy took place after the Chinnaswamy Stadium, which has a capacity for 35,000 people, witnessed a massive crowd of 2-3 lakh people.
Explaining what exactly led to the chaos and stampede, the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, “The match happened last evening (Tuesday), and today this event was organised by the cricket association, so no one had expected that so many people would come. The expectation was the equivalent number of people for the stadium’s capacity, ty or slightly more than t, that may gather."
“There are small gates. The people entered through the gates. They have also broken the gates, so a stampede has taken place. Nobody had expected so much of a crowd to come. Prima facie, it looks like that. I’m not saying anything has happened. The inquiry will bring out facts," he added.
The Bengaluru Traffic Police at 11:56 am on Wednesday announced that there would not be a victory parade, but only a felicitation function at the stadium would take place. However, the RCB team’s management at 3.14 pm announced that they would hold a victory parade at 5 pm.
“Victory Parade will be followed by celebrations at the Chinnaswamy stadium. We request all fans to follow the guidelines set by the police and other authorities so that everyone can enjoy the roadshow peacefully" it said in a post on X.
This left the fans confused about whether a parade would be conducted or not.
Police sources said that even though they had made it clear that no victory parade would be held and that those with tickets would only be allowed to enter the stadium, fans in large numbers gathered outside the stadium and many among them also jumped the gates to gain entry.
“While those with valid tickets were allowed to enter the stadium for celebrations, many tried to sneak in with those who had free passes and tickets. In that bid to get entry, some of them also started pushing each other," a police officer said.
According to the police, around 50,000 people were within a 1-kilometre radius, and the number just kept increasing.
