Vijay's TVK rally stampede: Postmortem of the Karur tragedy
Dehydration, lathi-charge triggered stampede cost lives; jam-packed spot delayed help
Relatives of the victims mourn in front of Karur Government Medical College hospital, following the stampede at an election campaign rally addressed by TVK leader Vijay
KARUR: Dehydration caused by long wait without food and water and a stampede that ensued after the police resorted to minor lathi charge to control the frenzied fans of actor and TVK chief Vijay cost the lives of 40 people, including women and children, who had gathered in Karur for his campaign rally on Saturday.
On Sunday, as bodies of the deceased, some of them children, were handed over to bereaved families after post-mortems, deafening wails of mothers and fathers filled Karur’s hospital corridors.
As several speculations about what might have turned a star’s poll rally, a celebration of sorts, into a tragedy of this proportion filled prime time news,
sources told DT Next that the police had granted permission for the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhakam (TVK) president’s Karur campaign at 8.30 am on Saturday, after completing another rally in Namakkal. But Vijay reached Namakkal around 1.45 pm and then headed by road to Velusamy Puram in Karur.
Around 150 fans on two-wheelers followed his vehicle from Namakkal to Karur, raising slogans on the way. “They were riding very close to his vehicle and even attempted to overtake it,” said M Saravanan, an auto driver from Aravakurichi, who witnessed the incident.
Saravanan said the actor was stopped at Paramathi Velur and asked to show his face to the fans, which he did. He also had to stop at Aravakurichi, and by then the number of fans that converged at Velusamy Puram more than doubled the expected number.
A police officer said, just before Vijay’s address, two persons passed out, and they were moved to a hospital by ambulance, which took a long time to make way through the crowd.
The allotted spot could accommodate only 10,000 people, but on Saturday, more than 60,000 gathered, the official said.
Tamilarasan, a survivor from Krishnarayapuram, recalled, “When Vijay started his speech, his high-spirited fans started pushing their way towards his vehicle, wanting to see him up and close, giving the police a tough time to control them. When police resorted to a mild lathi charge, fans started climbing atop the trees, makeshift platforms, pushcarts, gen-set cabin and an open stormwater drain, in a frenzy to get a clean view of the actor-turned-politician. Suddenly some fans fell into the drain.”
On Sunday, shops and commercial establishments in Karur downed their shutters as a mark of respect to the deceased. Karur police booked a case under provisions including negligence against TVK office-bearers.
