At least 11 people have been killed and many more injured in a stampede outside a cricket stadium in the southern Indian state of Karnataka to celebrate the home team’s victory in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the world’s most popular Twenty20 cricket tournament.
“No one expected such a huge crowd,” India’s chief minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, said on Wednesday. “The stadium has a capacity of only 35,000 people, but 200,000-300,000 people came.”
“Eleven people have died and 33 others are injured,” he said.
The incident took place earlier on Wednesday as thousands of fans gathered outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the state capital, Bengaluru.
India’s NDTV broadcaster also reported that at least 11 people died. Local TV news channels showed footage of police shifting the injured and those who fell unconscious to ambulances.
DK Shivakumar, the deputy chief minister of Karnataka, told reporters that “the crowd was very uncontrollable”.
The event was being held to celebrate Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s first IPL title win on Tuesday.
Stampedes often happen in India when large crowds gather. In January, at least 30 people were killed as tens of thousands of Hindu devotees rushed to bathe in a sacred river during the Maha Kumbh festival, the world’s largest religious gathering.
(AP, News Agencies)
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