'Crazy' Video Shows People Hanging On Train Doors To Reach Chennai IAF Air Show Venue

The air show organised by the Indian Air Force as a part of its 92nd anniversary at Chennai’s Marina Beach ended up in complete mayhem, leading to the loss of five lives. The event drew lakhs of people, overwhelming the city’s infrastructure while extreme weather conditions added to the problem. While Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has announced compensation along with promises of better arrangements for future events, the ruling DMK government has received massive backlash for improper crowd management and lack of foresight during the show.

Amidst this, videos of the poor traffic planning and inadequate arrangements have surfaced on the internet including some that show hundreds scattered across a Chennai train station.

In the video, a large number of people can be seen waiting for a train while others nearly dangled at the edge of the platforms with their legs over the tracks. In another, a departing train features passengers hanging outside from the doors and windows. Some of them even tried climbing up to the top of the train. Sharing the video on X, a user wrote, “Crazy!! This is how people travelled on a train for Chennai Air Show.”

The videos have left social media users enraged, raising concerns about safety arrangements for the public during such massive events.

A user wrote, “It is appalling to see the government and the army getting involved in such useless activities for populism. Was there any purpose or goal for this exercise? In India, crowd management is always a challenge, and doing such activities simply doesn’t make any sense.”

Another commented, “This is heartbreaking and a clear example of the DMK government’s complete failure. Public safety should never be compromised at such events.”

“At least 5 spectators were killed! This is heartbreaking. What should’ve been a proud display of our IAF’s strength turned into a tragedy. Crowd management and safety at large events are very difficult! But who is responsible for this?” a user asked.

Talking about the incident, a senior police officer said, “We had over 13 lakh people at the Marina on Sunday. The planning and barricades prevented a stampede, but the lack of an exit strategy was our downfall,” as quoted by The Indian Express.