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India Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- India Today
Killer factors behind the avoidable Bengaluru stampede. Explained in 5 points
Tens of thousands, if not lakhs, gathered within a kilometre radius of Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium to celebrate the Royal Challengers Bengaluru's first-ever IPL title. Hours later, the joyous frenzy turned tragic, with 11 lives lost in a stampede that hours before the chaos unfolded into a stampede, there were already signs -- visible, recognisable, avoidable and actionable -- that were 50 people have been left injured in the melee. A day later, it's the usual blame game and politics that has started around the tragedy in a country that has seen stampedes at regular intervals. Like in the case of the stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station in February, in which five red flags were missed, the RCB victory celebration too presented some warning or even acknowledging these might have averted the tragedy that followed.1. RCB'S VICTORY PARADE TWEETTo start with, the RCB's social media posts fuelled anticipation of a grand victory 3:14 pm on Wednesday, RCB's official X account announced, "RCB Victory Parade. Today at 5 pm IST. Victory Parade will be followed by celebrations at the Chinnaswamy stadium," it posted, urging fans to follow police post, promoting an open-top bus parade from Vidhana Soudha to the stadium, drew massive crowds despite the Bengaluru traffic police's earlier announcement at 11:56 am that no parade was planned due to security concerns, according to a report in The Indian conflicting messages created confusion, with fans converging in large numbers, many unaware the parade was cancelled. The RCB's promotion of the event, despite police directives, fuelled the crowd surge, turning the mass gathering into a nightmare.2. FREE PASSES, LIMITED ENTRYThe RCB, in the X post at 3:14, also announced limited free passes for the stadium event, available online, which led to a rush for access."Free passes (limited entry) available on (dot) royalchallengers (dot)com," the RCB added in the passes were issued, but the authorities later declared free entry for all. What followed was a massive crowd surging toward the gates of the both with and without passes, attempted to enter, overwhelming the limited entry Nikhil Naz, consulting editor of Sports Today, India Today Digital's sister portal, described young fans, including girls and teenage boys, being trampled in the melee due to inadequate security at the promise of free entry, without robust crowd management, created a bottleneck that turned fatal.3. COPS INSISTED ON SUNDAY BUT STATE GOVT DIDN'T RELENTadvertisementDespite Bengaluru Police advising the Karnataka government to hold the RCB celebration on a Sunday to avoid traffic and allow better security preparation, the event was rushed through within 24 hours of the IPL were exhausted from overnight crowd control during the celebrations after the victory on Tuesday night and must have had little time to plan and Bengaluru Police officers said their warning against holding the RCB celebrations at short notice, and their call for a week's delay, were overlooked, the Deccan Herald reported early on warnings, the government allegedly pushed ahead, leading to chaos, understaffing, poor barricading, and a deadly stampede that claimed 11 leaders of the state must have wanted to cash in on the peak celebratory mood. Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar claimed that 5,000 police personnel were deployed for the RCB celebration, calling the crowd "uncontrollable." However, this was later contradicted by the state's Advocate General, Shashi Kiran Shetty, who admitted in court that just over 1,000 personnel had actually been Bengaluru police chief Bhaskar Rao criticised the "unplanned, hurried, disorganised celebrations", saying "As former city top cop, I would have told the CM to postpone the victory march and felicitations. Yesterday [Tuesday] night's crowd frenzy was enough warning to allow emotions to calm down".advertisement4. STADIUM CAPACITY OF 35,000 BUT CROWD OF 2-3 LAKHThe Chinnaswamy Stadium's capacity is approximately 35,000, but 2-3 lakh fans gathered, with 1 lakh near Vidhana Soudha alone, where the celebrations had initially CM Siddaramaiah admitted, "We did not anticipate this kind of crowd", which reveals that the event was organised hastily after the Tuesday night overwhelming turnout of fans, far exceeding expectations, exposed poor planning by the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) and RCB. The mismatch between the venue's capacity and the crowd size created the dangerous pressure-cooker situation. 5. EXIT GATES AT CHINNASWAMY: A CRUCIAL FACTORThe stampede occurred primarily at three gates (Gates 3, 12, and 18), where fans pushed to enter or climb barriers. The narrow passageways and a collapsed temporary slab over a drain near the stadium triggered panic, leading to asphyxia-related Divyanshi, who had travelled from Andhra Pradesh to Bengaluru just to catch a glimpse of her favourite Virat Kohli, died of suffocation and a head injury near one of the entrance eyewitness told news agency PTI that chaos erupted when a crowd of nearly 600 to 700 people, mostly women, forced open a gate and tried to rush in at once."Information was spread that the team's roadshow had been cancelled and called on everyone to gather at the stadium, and many women had come without any tickets... The police tried to stop the women, but they did not listen and tried to climb the gates. Around 600-700 broke open the gates and at a time tried to enter. This led to a stampede. Many victims were women. Although I tried to help, I couldn't because of the crowd and chaos," the unnamed eyewitness told confirmed that all the victims died due to asphyxia, a condition caused by a lack of oxygen, which leads to unconsciousness and, ultimately, death, reported The Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty told the High Court that all 21 gates were open, the counsel for the petitioner said, "Only three gates of the stadium were opened, without there being capacity to accommodate so many people", according to a report in Live Karnataka High Court was informed by the Advocate General that all 11 deaths and the injuries to 66 people occurred at just three gates, indicating poor crowd management at entry and exit conclusion, the Bengaluru stampede was a tragedy born of a combination of miscommunication, inadequate planning, and underestimation of fan turnout. The RCB's premature social media announcements, poorly managed entry rules, insufficient police preparedness, a massive crowd overwhelming the stadium's capacity, and inadequate gate management created the storm. The Karnataka government has ordered a magisterial enquiry, and both the RCB and the KSCA have announced financial aid for victims' families. But if lessons aren't learnt, such tragedies will Watch
Time of India
2 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
'Lives are more important': World Cup-winning captain on RCB's IPL win celebrations, Bengaluru stampede
ANI Photo NEW DELHI: Legendary cricketer Kapil Dev on Thursday expressed his anguish over the death of 11 fans during Royal Challengers Bengaluru's IPL victory celebrations, saying 'lives are more important than celebration' and urging everyone to take proper precautions in the future. On Wednesday, nearly two and a half lakh people gathered near the M Chinnaswamy Stadium to catch a glimpse of their cricketing heroes. However, the resulting chaos led to a stampede that claimed 11 lives and left several others injured. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 'I feel very bad about that. I think we have to learn from each other. Next time something like this (victory parade) happens, people should be more conscious. People do make a mistake,' Kapil told PTI. RCB Victory Parade Claims Dozens Of Lives, BCCI Speaks Out On Bengaluru Stampede | Watch The 1983 World Cup-winning captain also urged teams and organisers to act responsibly while planning events of such scale. 'Mistake should not be to that scale where you are having fun and you lose lives. In the future, if any team wins, keep it calm. Lives are more important than celebration. Let's put it that way,' he added. Looking ahead, Kapil hoped that India would emerge victorious during the upcoming five-match Test tour of England. 'They are a good side. Cricket is a team game and if they play as a team then they will get good results. Whether it is Shubman Gill or Jasprit Bumrah... it is not about individuals, play as a team. That's more important. Good luck to them, and hope they come back victorious,' he said. 'A particularly special feeling': Andy Flower hails Virat Kohli, RCB after historic title win Now away from competitive cricket, Kapil revealed he has found a new sporting passion in golf — both as a player and an administrator. 'I think cricket can be played only up to a certain age, you know, certain sports like tennis, football, you can't play at the age of 50 or 60. But when I started playing golf, I felt that one can play, as long as you want. And that's wonderful, as a sportsman, if you keep on playing something. 'Golf has given me that kick, that I can compete with myself,' said the 66-year-old, who also serves as the president of the Professional Golf Tour of India.
India Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- India Today
Mixed messages, mismanagement, mess: Who's responsible for stampede at RCB event?
The road outside Chinnaswamy Stadium turned chaotic on Thursday as an unprecedented crowd gathered for a felicitation event of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) after their historic IPL win. Over 2 lakh RCB fans turned up to celebrate at a venue that could only host 30,000 people. What followed was a deadly stampede that exposing glaring lapses, confusion, and a complete breakdown in coordination between the franchise, local authorities, and event the players were being felicitated inside, complete chaos unfolded on the road and 11 people lost their lives while another 47 were injured. Despite the tragedy just outside, the felicitation ceremony continued, drawing criticism over what many called gross the state government announced a magisterial inquiry and asked the panel to submit a report within 15 days. A solatium of Rs 10 lakh has been announced for families of the deceased by the state government. But the bigger question remains - why was this not planned properly? Why did the event continue despite the chaos unfolding outside? Who is responsible?FREE PASSES Initially, passes were issued for the event. But few had managed to get passes and after it was announced that everyone would be allowed inside, there was a huge rush once the gates were OR NO PARADE?advertisementOriginally, an open-top bus parade was planned to run from Vidhana Soudha to Chinnaswamy Stadium. But around 1 PM, officials announced the parade had been cancelled due to traffic congestion. Instead, the team would meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at Vidhana Soudha and proceed directly to the this, RCB's official X (formerly Twitter) account continued to promote a 'Victory Parade,' encouraging fans to gather in large numbers. At 3:14 PM, the account posted:At 3:14 pm, RCB shared a tweet, "RCB Victory Parade: Today at 5 pm IST. Victory Parade will be followed by celebrations at the Chinnaswamy stadium. We request all fans to follow guidelines set by police and other authorities, so that everyone can enjoy the roadshow peacefully." The revised advisory also said that entry to the venue will be restricted to those with valid passesThe RCB, however, also shared a link to free result? Massive crowds gathered in anticipation of a grand celebration. With no barricades or real crowd management in place, the scene turned into a logistical nightmare. Eyewitnesses described a near-stampede outside the stadium gates, with children and elderly fans struggling to stay on their feet in the 2 AMBULANCESadvertisementVisuals showed police shifting injured and unconscious people to a nearby hospital. Besides those dead and injured, many who came to watch the celebrations Naz, Consulting Editor – Sports, who was at the stadium said people started pushing into the crowd, trying to move either to the left or the right side of the stadium. In the melee, young people-mostly girls and some teenage boys-got trampled upon. There were no security personnel in this area. Security had restricted themselves to only the said because there were only two ambulances inside, some weren't lucky enough to get one."Those who didn't get an ambulance were carried in the arms by security personnel. These security people ran towards the main road to find cars to take these unconscious people to the nearby hospital. Because the roads immediately outside the stadium were blocked by crowds, unconscious people had to be carried for 500 metres to reach a point where regular traffic was flowing," he PLANNINGKarnataka Minister Priyank Kharge admitted that the event could have been planned has owned up responsibility. This could have been avoided with better planning and coordination. We did what best we could we couldn't manage crowd," he cops present at the site failed to control the crowd and a mismanagement was clearly visible. Politicians turned the celebration into a photo-op frenzy and many even brought their families to Vidhana Soudha to pose with the ATTENDS EVENT DESPITE CHAOSWhat raised further eyebrows was the presence of Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who not only attended the felicitation event at the stadium but also brushed off concerns later.'It was just a 10-minute event,' he told reporters, offering a feeble justification in the wake of the chaos.'I went to the stadium and gave them a direction and requested that the programme should be closed within 10 minutes. The RCB team also agreed. We requested Virat Kohli also to just go. For courtesy sake, to show that they handed over the gift to Karnataka, they gave the cup to me and we closed the event,'BCCI WASHES ITS HANDS OFFAdding to the mess, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) issued a statement saying it had 'no role' in the event and cited 'local lapses' for the secretary Devajit Saikia said, "I think there were some lapses. The BCCI has no role in it."IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal told India Today, "For the BCCI, the IPL concluded last night. We had no knowledge of such an incident occurring, so how can we be held responsible for it?"He added, "How can we be held responsible for something like this? It is indeed a very tragic incident, and we extend our deepest condolences. But we cannot be held accountable for something over which we had no control."'RCB WANTED EVENT'Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwar on Thursday said RCB and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) wanted to do this ceremony."It is not us. We didn't make any request regarding the celebration to RCB and KSCA. They organised this. We felt that the government should felicitate. Just because it was a Bengaluru team, we felt that we should be a part of the celebration. That's all. We didn't ask that we would do this but it's RCB and KSCA who brought the team to Bengaluru for celebrations," he said while speaking to questions mount over accountability, many are now asking whether a cricketing celebration was worth the risk to public InMust Watch
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
Board says no role, state govt should ‘take note'
Soon after the stampede on Wednesday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) distanced itself from the Royal Challengers Bengaluru's IPL victory celebrations. Saying that the state government and local administration should 'take note' of the events that unfolded, the BCCI officials maintained that their responsibility ended with the completion of the tournament. 'Once the IPL final is over and after the presentation, BCCI has no role to play on what the franchise and the team go and do on their home ground,' BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia told The Indian Express. '(RCB) didn't have to inform us or take our permission, and the BCCI doesn't have to monitor them either.' Denying any prior information, IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal said: 'We had no knowledge of any victory parade or celebrations planned in Bengaluru. We had no idea who organised it and how so many fans came there.' 'The RCB management also had no idea what was happening outside because they were inside the stadium. As soon as we got to know, we spoke to RCB officials, and they informed us that they were winding up the celebrations. I am sure the state government and local administration would also take note of this event,' Dhumal said. Saikia underlined the need for proper planning before holding such events. 'While organising this kind of event, they should properly coordinate with local law enforcement authorities so that nothing untoward happens,' he said. The day began with the first official announcement at around 7 am about a victory parade on RCB's social media handles. 'RCB Victory Parade in Bengaluru. This one's for you, 12th Man Army. For every cheer, every tear, every year. Loyalty is Royalty and today, the crown is yours. More details soon,' the franchise said in a post on X from its official handle. And at 3:14 pm: 'RCB Victory Parade: Today at 5 pm IST. Victory parade will be followed by celebrations at the Chinnaswamy stadium. We request all fans to follow guidelines set by police and other authorities, so that everyone can enjoy the roadshow peacefully. Free passes (limited entry) available on the website.' But soon, media reports about the parade getting cancelled started doing the rounds. At 3:48 pm, Bengaluru City Traffic police posted an advisory about a felicitation programme in the evening with no mention of any parade. But lakhs of fans assembled at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, and tried to get in, resulting in a stampede. Later in the evening, RCB expressed anguish at the deaths and said they made the required changes to their programme once they came to know what was happening outside the stadium. 'The safety and well-being of everyone is of utmost importance to us. RCB mourns the tragic loss of lives and extends our heartfelt condolences to the affected families,' the franchise said in a statement. 'Immediately upon being made aware of the situation, we promptly amended our programme, and followed the guidance and advice of the local administration.' RCB and the Karnataka State Cricket Association have announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh to the families of each of the deceased.
Mint
3 days ago
- Politics
- Mint
Bengaluru stampede: BCCI's Rajeev Shukla defends Siddaramaiah as 11 die, says ‘can happen in any state'
RCB Victory Parade: In the aftermath of the fatal stampede during Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) IPL victory celebrations at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice-president and Congress MP Rajeev Shukla has defended Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, urging that the incident should not be politicised. Speaking to the media, Shukla said, 'Govt did stop the roadshow in order to avoid stampede or any such situation. But, it was not anticipated that a stampede would happen outside the stadium. Everybody should work together on the damage control.' He emphasised that such incidents can occur anywhere, adding, 'This can happen in any state and the ruling party should not be blamed for it. It should not be politicised. If this happens in a BJP-ruled state, we should not blame them.' The tragic stampede outside M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru left 11 people dead and many injured as thousands gathered to celebrate RCB's maiden IPL title win. Rajeev Shukla noted the overwhelming size of the crowd, saying, 'The crowd was huge, I spoke to the franchise, they also did not think that such a huge crowd would come and this incident happened suddenly.' He assured that efforts are underway to provide maximum assistance to the families of the deceased. While BJP Karnataka chief Vijayendra claimed that 11 were dead in the RCB celebration stampede and demanded a judicial inquiry, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said, "no information on deaths in RCB celebrations in Bengaluru, will inform on receiving details." The injured have been hospitalised at Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital in Shivajinagar and Vydehi Super Speciality Hospital here. "Total sixteen casualties were brought in, four were brought dead, three are male and one female. They are of young age between 20-30 12 are stable," a Vydehi Super Speciality Hospital official said adding the cause of death may be due to suffocation. Police used mild force to control the crowd and bring the situation under control ahead of a special felicitation at the stadium for the RCB team organised by the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). According to eye-witnesses, fans thronged the venue of felicitation and visuals showed police shifting the injured persons and those who fell unconscious in ambulances to nearby hospitals. Visuals also showed some of those who were in an unconscious state being administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) by those nearby. Police had a tough time in crowd management as a large number of cricket enthusiasts tried to gain entry, at the same time, into the stadium. According to a traffic advisory from the Bengaluru police, entry to Chinnaswamy Stadium was limited to only those with valid tickets and passes."As there is limited parking facility available near the Chinnaswamy Stadium, those who are attending the event are advised to use public transport and Metro. The public is requested to cooperate," it had said.
