CHENNAI: In a tragic turn of events, five persons who collapsed after the IAF air show in Marina beach on Sunday passed away. While heatstroke is suspected to have led to the deaths, the police are awaiting post-mortem results to ascertain the cause.
Also, more than 240 persons fainted at the venue and there were 93 reported cases of dehydration at City hospitals.
It is however unclear which department was responsible for providing drinking water at the air show.
The five deceased persons were identified as D John (56) of Korukkupet, Karthikeyan (34) of Tiruvottiyur, Srinivasan (48) of Perungalathur, Dinesh and Mani (55) of Marakkanam.
John had attended the event with his wife, Elisamma and brother-in-law, Shyam Kumar. He fainted while walking along Kamarajar Salai after the event and was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead.
Karthikeyan who was riding his bike after attending the IAF air show complained of chest pain and collapsed near INS Adyar; he was rushed to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
While 240 people fainted at the event, 150 were administered first aid by emergency staff at the scene. Also, forty ambulances were deployed to Beach road for the sake of the public.
The affected were rushed to RGGGH, Kilpauk Medical College, and Royapettah Government Hospital. As many as 93 dehydration cases were reported from these hospitals.
Authorities at the Government Royapettah Hospital informed that the six patients admitted there are in a stable condition now.
There were many more woes such as ambulances getting caught in severe traffic jams and being unable to reach hospitals as per their usual response time. Locals and motorists even stepped in to clear the traffic for the ambulances but in vain. Additionally, the presence of phone jammers within a 5 km radius of the Marina beach affected '108' ambulance services but was handled by the emergency team present.