Did the 6-Hour Delay and Overcrowding Cause the Chaos? What We Know So Far News24 –

At least 36 people, including eight children, died, and over 40 were injured during a stampede at Vijay’s rally in Karur. The arrival of the actor and president of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) was delayed by nearly six hours, causing the crowd to swell and leading to people to faint amid the extreme heat, beyond the heat, the overcrowding led to dire situations, where several citizens fainted.

witnessing the dire situation, teh actor paused his speech and threw water bottles to the crowd from his campaign bus, an attempt at pacifying the situation after a 6-hour delay further worsened the situation. The stampede was triggered when a group of supporters fell while trying to get closer to the bus actor Vijay was addressing them. Once the stampede erupted, even ambulances that were stationed at the venue could not pass their way through the dense crowd.

As ambulances faced difficulties navigating through the dense crowd to provide medical aid and transport the injured to hospitals, the situation further worsened.

At Vijay’s rally in Karur, a sudden surge of the crowd around 7:45 pm caused panic as many people, including children, fainted and were trampled while police and volunteers struggled to maintain control; despite Vijay’s efforts to assist, the situation worsened.

A letter revealed that the rally was planned for 10,000 attendees, as be an India TV report, but the actual crowd far exceeded this, overwhelming the venue’s capacity and causing severe difficulties for ambulances trying to reach the injured. Victims were taken to local hospitals, and an official inquiry has been launched to investigate the failures in crowd management and safety measures at the event.