A celebration to honor Royal Challengers Bengaluru's IPL 2025 victory turned into a tragedy as a stampede outside Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday afternoon left 11 people dead, including a woman and a Class 9 student. A massive crowd had assembled to attend the scheduled victory parade of the RCB team.
As per reports, around 47 others sustained injuries, with the death toll feared to rise. The stampede reportedly occurred when a massive crowd surged toward a gate near Cubbon Park, trying to enter the stadium. In the chaos, some fans were trampled, and several collapsed.
Three individuals were declared dead on arrival at Bowring Hospital, while four more succumbed to their injuries at Vydehi Multispecialty Hospital.The remaining casualties were taken to nearby hospitals. Overwhelmed by the influx, Bowring staff struggled to keep track of the injured. Some fans attempted CPR on those injured before help arrived.
Emergency response was hampered by traffic congestion around the stadium, forcing authorities to use police vans, ambulances, and private vehicles to transport victims. Emotional scenes unfolded outside hospitals as relatives of the deceased gathered in grief.
The situation escalated further as fans attempted to breach security and climb the stadium's compound wall, leading police to resort to a lathi charge to control the crowd. One person broke his leg in a fall while trying to scale the wall.
The commotion reached Vidhana Soudha, where the state government was conducting a felicitation event for the RCB players.A few attendees fainted, and the event had to be cut short due to heavy rains.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah visited Bowring Hospital to assess the situation. An investigation into the incident is likely to follow as questions are raised over crowd management and security arrangements.
