KOCHI: Students union representatives of Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) believe the absence of experienced volunteers could have led to the crush at the musical concert on Saturday evening, which left four students dead and nearly 64 injured.
According to a student witness, crowd management at the venue was ineffective. “The management had decided not to involve members of the students union in the core committee. The last time the School of Engineering (SOE) organised its annual Tech-Fest was in 2019. This was four years ago, and it should have been considered that the current crop of students would have no experience managing large crowds,” said an SFI unit member.
“A poster circulated among students on the afternoon of the concert said that entry to the event would be permitted only till 7 pm. This could have led the crowd to pressure volunteers to let them in. Amid the chaos, volunteers panicked, and matters quickly went out of hand,” he said.
The Tech-Fest is organised by second and third-year students of the SoE, and there was no involvement of the students union in the committee, a KSU representative said. “This was also the case in 2019, when the last festival was organised. Crowd management was not up to par, and this can be attributed to the lack of experience of students,” said a KSU member.
“There were outsiders who were agitated when organisers permitted selective entry at the concert. This tension may also have played a role in the unfortunate incident,” he added.