BENGALURU: At least 11 people died on Wednesday in a crowd surge outside a cricket stadium in the Indian city of Bengaluru where fans were celebrating Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s first Indian Premier League title win, authorities said.

Thousands of people, some waving the home team’s red flag, lined streets around the Chinnaswamy Stadium to welcome home their heroes after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster IPL final on Tuesday night, with some climbing trees and the stadium wall for a better view.

As the celebration proceeded, some people outside without passes tried to push through gates and there was further trouble between the perimeter and main arena, police said.

Images from the scene showed people climbing over others and the euphoria of the vast crowds ended in disaster, with Prime Minister Narendra calling it “absolutely heartrending”.

At least 11 people were killed and 47 were injured in crush, Karnataka state chief minister Siddar­amaiah, who uses only one name, told reporters.

“No one expected such a huge crowd,” he said, but added that the entire police force of the city available had been deployed. “The stadium has a capacity of only 35,000 people, but 200,000-300,000 people came”.

Siddaramaiah, who has ordered an inquiry in the deaths, said a victory street parade by the winning team was called off as authorities had anticipated an uncontrollable crowd.

“At a time of celebration, this unfortunate event should not have happened. The pain of this tragedy has even erased the joy of victory,” he said. “I don’t want to defend the incident, the tragedy... our government is not going to play politics on this. This tragedy should not have happened … we are with the victims.”

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said “hundreds of thousands of people” had flocked onto the streets and that police had been “finding it very difficult.”

One policeman carried an injured spectator to an ambulance, while people gathered around another lying seemingly unconscious on the ground. Visuals also showed some people receiving CPR.

Police started caning people at one gate, leading to more chaos, said Mithun Singh, a software engineer among the crowd.

Broadcasters showed police rushing away from crowds carrying young children in their arms, who had seemingly fainted.

“I apologise to the people of Karnataka and Bengaluru,” Shivakumar said. “We wanted to take a procession, but the crowd was very uncontrollable...the crowd was so much.”

Naseer Ahmed, political secretary for the Karnataka chief minister, told broadcaster NDTV the crowd became uncontrollable and authorities were unable to make proper arrangements.

The team had given away free passes for the event through its website but also warned that numbers would be limited. Bengaluru metro stopped services near the stadium, where the ceremony continued despite the turmoil outside.

Mallikarjun Kharge, a senior Congress party lea­d­er, said the “loss of precious lives and the injuries” was “profoundly distressing”. “The joy of victory sho­uld never come at the cost of lives,” he said in a statement.

Organisers pressed ahead with the ceremony, with the team’s social media account posting a video of cheering crowds as the bus full of the players —- including batting legend Virat Kohli — waved back.

“This welcome is what pure love looks like,” the club’s social media posted on X.

But IPL chairman Arun Dhumal, speaking to NDTV, said organisers in the stadium had not been told about the stampede until later.

“At the time of the celebrations inside the stadium officials there did not know what had happened... I would like to send my heartfelt condolences,” Dhumal said. Shivakumar said cricket organisers had “shortened the programme”.

The tech city of Bengaluru had erupted in midnight celebrations after their team RCB, who scored 190-9, restricted Punjab to 184-7.

India’s IPL mega-tournament wrapped up on Tuesday night watched by 91,000 fans packed into the stadium in Ahmedabad — and many millions more on television.

Bengaluru fans celebrated wildly after their hero Kohli and RCB clinched victory for the first time in the 18 years of the IPL, their three previous finals having all ended in defeat.

India is familiar with crowd accidents, mainly at religious events due to poor crowd management and safety lapses. At least 30 people died at the Maha Kumbh Hindu festival in January.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2025