At least 11 people were killed and several others injured in a stampede during celebrations outside Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday, following Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title victory.
According to NDTV, RCB clinched their first IPL trophy in the tournament’s 18-year history by defeating Punjab Super Kings on Tuesday night. The Karnataka State Cricket Association had organised a felicitation event at the stadium on Wednesday to honour the team.
Chaos erupted outside the venue during the celebrations. Visuals from the scene showed injured and unconscious individuals being rushed to hospitals, with authorities fearing the death toll may rise further.
Eyewitnesses reported that many lost consciousness due to the extreme crowd pressure and trampling.
Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar of the Congress government acknowledged the failure to control the crowd, stating: “We couldn’t manage the crowd effectively and didn’t want to use force against these energetic young supporters.”
Apologising for the excessive gathering, he added: “We had deployed over 5,000 police personnel, but they hesitated to use batons against the enthusiastic young crowd.”
