New Delhi: Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar has offered his condolences on the loss of 11 lives in a stampede outside Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium during RCB’s IPL victory celebrations, describing the incident as “beyond tragic”.
Apart from 11 deaths, more than 30 were injured in a stampede outside the popular venue on Wednesday during the victory celebrations of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s maiden IPL trophy win.
“What happened at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, is beyond tragic. My heart goes out to every affected family. Wishing peace and strength to all,” Tendulkar wrote on ‘X’.
Former South Africa and RCB batter AB de Villiers, who is immensely popular in Bengaluru, also expressed his sympathy for the victims.
“My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the tragic events at the Chinnaswamy stadium today,” de Villiers wrote.
Former India captain-cum-coach and a Bengaluru native, Anil Kumble termed the incident as a “sad day for cricket”.
“It’s a Sad day for Cricket! My heart goes out to the families of those who lost their lives while celebrating RCB’s victory today. Praying for the speedy recovery of those injured. Tragic !!,” he wrote.
Yuvraj Singh added: “What was meant to be a moment of celebration turned into an unimaginable tragedy. My heart goes out to everyone affected by the incident in #Bengaluru.”
The legendary Kapil Dev expressed anguish, saying “lives are more important than celebration” and advised everyone to take proper precautions in future.
“I feel very bad about that. I think we have to learn from each other. Next time something like this (victory parade) happens, people should be more conscious. People do make a mistake,” Kapil told PTI on the sidelines of a corporate event organised by the Arche Global Private Limited.
The 1983 World Cup-winning India captain urged the teams and other stakeholders to keep sanity while organising events of such magnitude.
“Mistake should not be to that scale where you are having fun and you lose lives. In the future, if any team wins, keep it calm. Lives are more important than celebration. Let’s put it that way,” he added.
Kapil hoped India would come out victorious in the upcoming five-match Test tour to England.