Chennai: A day meant to mark a moment of national pride for the Indian Air Force (IAF) turned into a nightmare at Chennai’s Marina Beach. A crowd of more than 12 lakh people who came to view the IAF air show surged toward exits, leaving five dead and many hospitalized.
The October 6 air show commemorating the IAF’s 92nd anniversary was the first such event in Chennai in over two decades. What was intended to be a spectacle of military aviation ended in chaos as the sheer size of the crowd overwhelmed both organisers and local authorities.
A senior police officer said that by late Sunday evening, five deaths had been confirmed and 40 people were in hospitals. “Over 150 people have received first aid in various parts of the city due to the dehydration and stress they faced. One death was reported on the beach, another near Napier Bridge. Other victims died on their way back home at different places. It was not a stampede situation at one particular place,” the officer said.
Another man had reportedly suffered a sun stroke while he was riding his bike. The biker was on the stretch connecting Gosha Hospital and Wallajah Road and was stuck in traffic for more than an hour.
“Volunteers even identified his condition as he was losing control amid the stranded crowd and helped him get off the bike,” an eyewitness said.
Surprisingly, the aircraft emitted as much as 2,366 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), as per a rough estimation by A Shankar Prakash, a city-based researcher said.
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