COIMBATORE: A policewoman and five students sustained injuries in a stampede at a concert venue in a private college near Saravanampatti in the city. The injured are undergoing treatment in a private hospital. Music director Yuvan Shankar Raja and a few other celebrities were part of the event held between 3.30 and 4.30 pm on Saturday.
Sources said the college administration blocked the entrance around 12 pm after allowing nearly 10,000 visitors to enter the compound.
“When the event was about to start, a large number of people climbed the boundary wall to enter the campus, resulting in the wall’s collapse. In the melee that ensued, a few girl students who were inside the campus fell down, and the mob ran over them,” they said.
Three girl students of the college sustained injuries in the mad rush. The injured Special Sub-Inspector from Saravanampatti Police Station (Law & Order), Philomena (52), was deployed at the gate. The other two students, one of them a schoolgirl, fainted during the incident. Meanwhile, the city police claimed they had neither approved nor denied permission for conducting the event.
“The college management did not make necessary arrangements for accommodating these many people. Even after the stampede, the event was not stopped,” they added.