No fewer than 11 people have been confirmed dead in a stampede as a tightly packed crowd celebrated the victory of their home cricket team in the Indian city of Bengaluru.
The state’s chief minister confirmed the incident on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.
Joyous cricket fans had come out to celebrate and welcome home their heroes, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster Indian Premier League cricket final on Tuesday night.
But the euphoria of the vast crowds ended in disaster, with Prime Minister Narendra calling it “absolutely heartrending”.
Karnataka state Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said “most of the deceased are young”, with 11 dead and 47 injured in the crush.
“No one expected such a huge crowd,” he told reporters, but added that the entire police force of the city available had been deployed.
“The stadium has a capacity of only 35,000 people, but 200,000-300,000 people came,” AFP quoted the minister to have said..
He said a victory street parade by the winning team was called off as authorities had anticipated an uncontrollable crowd.
“The pain of this tragedy has even erased the joy of victory,” said Siddaramaiah, who has ordered an inquiry in the deaths.
He added: “I don’t want to defend the incident, the tragedy… our government is not going to play politics on this.
“This tragedy should not have happened. We are with the victims.”
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