Bangalore Stampede / Stampede outside the stadium during RCB's victory parade, 11 dead, BCCI raises questions

RCB won the IPL title after 18 years, but the celebration turned into mourning. 11 people died and more than 50 were injured in a stampede during the victory parade at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Heavy crowd, chaos and security lapses led to the accident. Questions are now being raised on the event.

Bangalore Stampede: After a long wait of 18 years, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) won the IPL trophy, but the celebration of this historic victory turned into mourning. 11 people died tragically while more than 50 people are reported to be injured due to a stampede during the 'Victory Parade' held at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. A large number of fans had arrived at this function organized by the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), due to which the situation went out of control.

How did the stampede happen?

It is being told that the stampede took place outside Gate No. 6 of Chinnaswamy Stadium. The seats inside were already filled, but the crowd of thousands was desperate to get a glimpse of their favorite players - Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Rajat Patidar. Many people climbed the walls and trees. The police tried to control the situation, but the crowd went out of control and a stampede occurred. Some reports claim that lathicharge was done to disperse the crowd gathered at the gate, which worsened the situation.

Eyewitness's statement

A female fan said, "We were neither being allowed to go inside nor to go back. There was a huge crowd near the gate. If the gate had opened, more people would have entered. Then many people fell down and there was screaming."

Deputy CM DK Shivakumar's reaction

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar expressed grief over the incident and said that the crowd was excited and the police could not use force. He said that he has spoken to the Police Commissioner and he will go to the hospital and take stock of the situation. He has appealed to everyone to maintain restraint.

BCCI and IPL Chairman's silence

Surprisingly, IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal was not even aware of this victory parade. When the media questioned him, he said, "Which celebration?" On the other hand, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia questioned the organizers and said that proper planning and security arrangements were necessary for such a function. He termed this tragedy as 'extremely unfortunate'.

Anger on social media

Anger has spread on social media regarding this accident. People are raising questions that when such a large crowd was expected to gather, why proper security arrangements were not made? Many users demanded that the event should have been canceled immediately after the accident.