Death toll in stampede at Thalapathy Vijay rally rises to 39

At least 39 people were killed and over 100 injured in a stampede at a rally of politician and actor Thalapathy Vijay’s political party Tamil Nadu’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK). The incident took place at a rally in Karur district of Tamil Nadu on Saturday (September 27).
Fifty people injured in the accident have already been admitted to the hospital. According to Indian media reports, the toll is expected to rise.
Witnesses said that Thalapathy Vijay’s supporters had been waiting for him to arrive at the rally venue for at least six hours. However, the situation got out of control when he arrived late.
The crowd started to grow while Thalapathy Vijay was giving a speech on stage. As many started fainting, he suddenly stopped his speech and tried to give water bottles to people stuck in the crowd from the campaign bus. But by then, many in the crowd were trampled. The crowd was so intense that an ambulance had to rush to the spot.
According to police, at least 30,000 people gathered at the spot.
Upon receiving the news, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin ordered the administration to monitor the situation closely and Health Minister M Subrahmanyam Karur rushed to the spot. Meanwhile, after the incident, Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK has also accused Thalapathy Vijay of negligence and demanded his arrest.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed deep sorrow over the incident in a statement on Twitter. Along with the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Tamil Nadu BJP leader K Annamalai and many political figures have expressed their condolences over the unfortunate incident.
This is not the first time that chaos has erupted around a rally by superstar Vijay Thalapathy. Earlier this month, his rally was held in Trichy city of Tamil Nadu as part of Vijay’s first statewide political tour. Thousands of people gathered to attend it. The huge crowd brought the entire city to a standstill for more than six hours.