At the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat), a musical evening turned tragic on Saturday when a stampede left four people—three of them students—dead and another 49 injured. The catastrophe happened when the gate was opened, trapping a huge number of students and others who were trying to access the music site, the amphitheatre.
Sara Thomas of Thamarassery, Athul Thampi of Koothattukulam, Ann Ruftha of North Paravur, and Alwin Joseph of Mundoor, Palakkad, have been identified as the deceased. Alwin had come for the music, but three of the students were Cusat second-year engineers. The conditions of two of the injured are critical.
The Nikhita Gandhi concert, which was a part of Cusat’s School of Engineering (SoE) annual Tech-Fest, was supposed to start at 7.30 pm, but people began arriving as early as 5 pm. The mishap happened around 6:55 p.m. While just half of the arena was occupied, students were swarming the entrance, which was situated ten to fifteen feet above the amphitheatre. The catastrophe occurred when the gate unexpectedly opened, causing schoolchildren and other guests to tumble over one another. The concertgoers may have been compelled to flee for protection due to the sudden downpour, forcing them to force open the gate and cause the accident.
A Cusat professor, on condition of anonymity blamed the authorities and SoE students for lack of planning. “The Cusat campus does not have the capacity to handle such big events where outsiders are involved,” he said. So a question arises as to who is responsible for such neglect leading to this grave tragedy in which precious lives have been lost, the organisors of the event and University authorities need to explain and come clean of this tragedy.