Chennai Air Show Tragedy: 5 Dead, 200 Injured Due to Poor Crowd Control, AIADMK Slams Stalin Government

The hugely awaited Chennai Air Show 2024 became a disaster on October 6, 2024, as five lives were lost and more than 200 spent the night in hospitals because of all the hodgepodge caused by very poor crowd management. The AIADMK has hit hard at the ruling DMK, for example, they have accused them of gross negligence as far as provision of security and facilities in a gathering of nearly 12 lakh people at Marina Beach has been concerned.

What Happened?

The IAF put on the air show as part of the celebrations as it marked its 92 years in existence, exhibiting many aircraft such as fuelling, Rafale, Sukhoi Su-30MKI, Tejas among others. It was supposed to be a flash event where people from far and wide would flood into the city of Chennai. Unfortunately, the overpopulation resulted in suffocation and exhaustion among battling individuals when temperatures were very high, water was not available and management of the crowds was unsatisfactory.

At least reports raise concerns that there were five preliminary cases concerning the deaths of D. John Korukappet, Karthikeyan Tiruvottiyur, Srinivasan Perungalathur, Mani Marakkanam, and Dinesh which were due to over exhaustion coming back from the event. Further, at least 43 more were received at Rajiv Gandhi hospital Chennai, and the list does not include many who were treated for minor injuries.

AIADMK’s Bambina Towards Stalin’s Ruling Class

AIADMK headed by Edappadi K. Palanisamy (EPS) has come out with even more strong criticism regarding the organizational lapses at the air show. In a release, EPS accused the DMK government of looking on helplessly at the thousands of people who had come to the venue. He stressed that in other cities where similar events like these air shows were held why there were not such happenings and this should be looked upon as a lack of foresight and negligence by the state government on their crowd management.

EPS also offered his ineffable regrets over the fatalities as well as injuries incurred during the occurrence of such an accident saying the appropriate place was not during a festivity. He further rebuked the administration saying basic restrooms, and clean drinking water were not provided to the gathered members on the said day. EPS however put it that, “the event was poorly coordinated by the government and the police bringing untold hardship to the people.”

As also, the AIADMK further pointed out that, the state government had made promises to the people that enough efforts have been put in to cater for transportation and facilities to the venue. However, the arrangements were quickly rendered inadequate as the number of people present far surpassed the expectations of the organizers.

Public Outrage and Political Consequences

The episode has triggered widespread anger in the state of Tamil Nadu as a slice of the population has begun writing to criticize the ability of the government to prepare for such an event. First-hand accounts of being present at the event are all over social media and some attendees mention lack of basic facilities such as drinking water and seating arrangements.

Other parties in opposition like the BJP have also sided and joined forces with the AIADMK against Stalin’s government further stating that opposition is needed in power. The BJP leaders were particularly scathing over the inability of the authorities to manage the crowds properly, leading to loss of lives and blamed it as “poor administration” of the state​.

Why Crowd Management is Necessary

In spite of the unfortunate conclusion of the Chennai Air Show, it demonstrated the importance of the development of new crowd “control” measures for similar mass-scale events. Taking into consideration that about 12 lakh people turned out for the show, the number of audience members exceeded all possible and available arrangements. Most of the attendees stated that it was quite hard to get any basic services and observed that there were few if not any policemen to control the large crowd.

Appearing unperturbed, City Police Commissioner, M. Arun indicated his unavailability for comment. However, internal sources have suggested that investigations are currently being carried out as to the mismanagement of the event. Such measures are expected to be enforced in order to avoid a repeat of such an episode again.

Conclusion

The Chennai Air Show 2024, in what was to be a big day for the Indians and the Indian Air Force, due to lack of effective crowd control measures, ended in a tragedy. The loss of life of five people combined with the fact that over 200 were hospitalized raised pertinent issues regarding preparedness of the government to handle mass gatherings. The opposition parties led by AIADMK have criticized the irresponsible conduct of the Stalin government by holding it accountable and demanding future reorganization to avert such mismanagement. While the investigation continues, it is intended that efforts toward preventing such calamities in the future will take priority, as well as providing justice to the families of the deceased.