KOCHI: Those were moments of celebration. Students were cheering, laughing and dancing all around. Suddenly it started drizzling and people started rushing to the narrow gate, the only entrance to the amphitheatre. There was a commotion. As people rushed in, they tripped on the steps and fell on those standing on the lower rungs.
There was no one to control the crowd. The hapless people who fell on the ground were trampled upon by those who followed. They could not hold themselves due to the heavy rush of people surging ahead from behind. It was a crush. Festivities gave way to agony. Loud screams filled the air. There was panic all around and the blazing music added to the agony.
Student volunteers who realised the gravity of the situation rushed to the stage and stopped the music after which rescue operations began. It was a Herculean task to push the mob back and rescue the students who were gasping for breath under their feet. As the crowd moved out and the injured were shifted to the hospital, there was total confusion.
Footwear, watches, bags, purses and mobile phones were lying scattered all around. Students were frantically searching for their friends. Many of them moved out unable to respond to the queries of police and fire and rescue service personnel.
“There is only one entrance to the amphitheatre and people who enter the amphitheatre have to exit through the same gate. The volunteers were checking the identity cards of the students and letting them in when there was a sudden rush. The stage is located around 10 ft below the entrance and there are around 12 steps leading to the hall. The hall was jampacked and as there was a rush from behind people fell on students standing near the steps,” said Kalamassery municipal councillor Nishad.
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It was around 6.45 pm, when Rajeev, a resident of Peringazha, drove past the entrance to the Cusat Auditorium. “It was a moment of ecstasy. The students were all wearing black T-shirts and they were cheering and dancing. There was heavy music and we struggled a lot to wade through the crowd. I reached my house around 7.10 pm and then I got a call that there was a stampede. I was not surprised because there was not enough police to control the crowd,” he said.
Though police also endorsed the rain theory, there was no heavy rain in the area. “It was only a light drizzle. But there was a huge crowd outside. Students from other colleges had also arrived to watch the programme. Besides, there were local residents also. There was a police presence on the campus for the past month in view of the University Union election. But there were only around 10 policemen at the venue as the force was mobilised for the ISL tournament at Kaloor Stadium,” said Thrikkakara Municipal Councillor Pramod Thrikkakara.
Over 2k students in attendance, besides general public
Narrating the incident on the Cusat campus, Abhishek, general secretary of the students’ union of the institution, said the music concert by Nikhita Gandhi was arranged as part of the engineering departments’ Tech-Fest at the college amphitheatre.
“The organisers failed to manage the crowd, which led to the accident. There must have been over 2,000 students in attendance, besides the general public,” he said
“There was a partition to separate department students in the front and outsiders in the back. The front gate was closed, preventing the entry of outsiders.
However, things went out of hand when the crowd outside demanded that the gates be opened,” said Abhishek.
Pointing out that there are steep steps near the front entrance where many were standing, he said, “When the gate was opened, the audience standing in front fell and were crushed by those behind them, leaving many badly injured. We managed to take the injured to nearby hospitals.”