From a class 9 girl to a teenager who had come to the stadium without informing parents, 11 youths killed in stampede in Bengaluru

Tragic stampede at cricket stadium leaves families devastated as loved ones lose their lives in the chaos.

When an elated 13-year-old Divyanshi, a class 9 student, called her grandfather Lakshmi Narayan telling him how excited she was to go and catch a glimpse of her favourite cricketers at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, little did he know that hours later he would be running around hospitals to only find her dead. 

“She was very excited. She had come with her parents and aunt. I don’t know what happened at the stadium gates. They now say she is dead. It is hard to believe she is no more,” Mr. Narayan lamented. 

Doresha, a resident of Mandya district, rushed to Bengaluru searching for his nephew Poornachand, 32, a civil engineer and a resident of Raisamudra village, who had come to the city for finalising a marriage proposal and later went to the stadium. On Wednesday evening, Mr. Doresha was running from pillar-to-post trying to locate his nephew. “Some people who had seen his name flash on the television said he was among the dead. I went to Bowring Hospital, but his body was not there. But I found his body at Vydehi Hospital,” he told presspersons. 

The father of another deceased, Boomik, 20, was inconsolable at Vydehi Hospital. He said his son had not informed them that he was going to the stadium and if he had they probably wouldn’t have allowed him to go. 

Most of those killed in the stampede at the stadium were below the age of 40. The deceased have been identified as Sahana, 25, a techie working in the city who had travelled from her hometown Kolar with her friends to attend the RCB victory celebrations; Akshata, 27; Manoj, 33; Shravan K.T., 20; Devi, 29; Shivaling, 17; Chinmayi, 19, apart from Divyanshi, Bhoomik and Poornachand.