Bengaluru: A mother cries inconsolably while her young daughter stares into space, almost seeming tired of wailing. The woman’s older son is on the phone, screaming that he lost his younger brother, a teenager. “Show me the way and I will come to you,” the mother wails.
An old couple was taken to the nearby hospital after they collapsed some time ago. A couple of feet away from the wailing mother, another family weeps at the loss of their relatives.
Scenes like these play out as about 30-40 such people wait inside the gates of the morgue in the state-run Bowring Hospital. Despite being mostly strangers to one another, these people are united by a shared experience of loss. All are families and friends of the victims of the Wednesday stampede outside Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Out of the 11 people who died, six bodies are kept in the Bowring Hospital while the other five in another hospital not very far. All the victims are below 33 with the youngest, just 13.
It was meant to be a day of triumph, as the city had geared up to celebrate Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title. Unfortunately, destiny had a different outcome in store as 11 people died in the stampede—one of the worst in the city’s history.
‘Thought this was a joke’
Outside the morgue, the scene is somber. Every few minutes, officials emerge to announce the name of a victim. A wave of sympathetic glances passes among the waiting individuals, each unaware of which family now faces this devastating news.
Many have been waiting hours while others plead with the police to be allowed inside. Most of them are on the phone, constantly explaining what happened to concerned callers.
Among them are a set of friends of one victim. A young working professional, the victim had left office early to make it to the parade despite her friends advising against it. When one of the friends did not hear back from her, he kept calling the phone. After nearly a couple of hours, a person picked up the phone. It wasn’t his friend but a policeman.
“I thought they were joking,” he tells the others, only to realise that the horrors were real. The group now awaits the arrival of her parents, who live in Coimbatore. They still don’t know the tragedy.
“If I knew, I would have definitely stopped her,” says another friend. Another says that it was her choice.
Many among them are grappling with the reality of what has occurred and are finding it difficult to come to terms with this devastating event.
Some people were slightly more fortunate. “I was on my way from Mandya (about 100 km away) for the victory celebrations but found out the situation on the way,” Harsh, an RCB fan, says.
He and another relative wait for their cousin who has been taken in for an X-ray. His cousin has a torn ligament.
Also Read: Siddaramaiah orders probe after 11 killed in stampede at RCB victory celebrations in Bengaluru
‘People were packed like sardines’
As the families grieve the losses of their loved ones, the opposition parties train their guns on the Siddaramaiah government for the loss of the precious lives.
Arvind Bellad, the deputy leader of the opposition and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, posted a pic on ‘X’. The image is of RCB celebrating the IPL trophy on an open-top bus while covered bodies are placed before them.
According to the police, the people were trying to gain entry in any gate possible as there was confusion on the “invite only” entry criteria. “People were packed like sardines,” one senior officer said.
The RCB team, as per the official schedule, were to land at 1.30 p.m. at Bengaluru’s HAL airport and then would make their way to Vidhana Soudha where they would be felicitated by the chief minister and the state government.
Post this, there would be a victory parade in an open-top bus at 5 p.m. from the Vidhana Soudha to the Chinnaswamy stadium, a distance of under 1 km. But the police denied permission for the procession since it would disrupt traffic on one of the busiest days of the week.
Since the procession was cancelled, the only other option to see the team was by gaining access into the stadium. It was then decided that the team would go to the Chinnaswamy stadium and celebrations would continue inside.
But there was confusion on who would be allowed inside. There were some stating that it was “invite only” and in some places, there were told that tickets would be available at the counters.
By this time, thousands of people had already gathered outside the Vidhana Soudha to catch a glimpse of their favourite cricketers. A number just as many gathered near the stadium, hoping to get entry.
The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) sent out one notification to all its members in which it stated that entry will be on a “first-come, first-serve” basis. It also added that entry gates will open at 3 p.m. and asked fans to secure their seats early. Calls to the KSCA secretary, A. Shankar, went unanswered.
Eyewitnesses recall that the crowds were waiting from at least 2 p.m. and until 5.20 p.m., the gates were not opened, which added to the crowds. At one point, the security partially opened Gate 7 to funnel people inside but this led to the crowd gushing into the small opening and the people getting crushed under the stampede that ensued. The barricades meant to act as a divider fell and then the people started to climb over those, crushing those trapped below, another eyewitness said.
But this was not the only place. There were similar scenes outside Gate 18-19.
“There are small gates. The people entered through the gates. They have broken the gates also (and) stampede has taken place,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, adding that the stadium capacity is 35,000 but more than 2-3 lakh people showed up.
Even after the stampede, the people continued on their way inside and celebrations continued inside the stadium till 6.30 p.m. There were fireworks going off even as ambulances sped to the nearest hospitals. Many fans were seen revelling, ecstatic coming out of the stadium even as families mourned the losses of their loved ones barely a kilometre away.
As the mother cried, her older son was just as distraught, continuously screaming out his anguish. “He was crazy about cricket. Now cricket itself has taken his life.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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