Chennai, Oct 07 :
After five visitors who had gathered to witness the air show lost their lives due to reported heat stroke, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian said that full administrative cooperation of the state government was extended for the successful conduct of the Indian Air Force Air Adventure programme in the state capital.
The minister’s comments came after the opposition accused the DMK government of “neglecting” basic arrangements to the public calling it a “complete failure of administration”.
Former Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said five people had lost their lives during the Air Show event due to heatstroke.
In a post on X, the Tamil Nadu health minister said that arrangements were made considering all the demands of the Air Force officers. “Full administrative cooperation of the Government of Tamil Nadu was extended to successfully conduct the Indian Air Force Air Adventure Program at Chennai. In order to properly plan and conduct the event, a coordination meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary with Indian Air Force officers and Tamil Nadu government department officials once and then several times at the departmental level.”
“In these consultative meetings, arrangements were made keeping in mind all the demands of the Air Force officers,” he added. He further said that the state government formed two medical teams, comprising doctors and nurses for emergency response during the show.
“The Army had also sent teams for medical assistance. 40 ambulances were readied for medical assistance and emergency response at the site. Required Paramedical staff was available. A total of 100 beds and 65 doctors at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital were prepared for any emergency,” he added.
The TN Health Minister said that during the event around 7500 police personnel were deployed. “On behalf of Chennai Corporation and Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, adequate temporary toilets and drinking water arrangements were made. To control the crowd 7500 police were on security. The Tamil Nadu government made all arrangements more than what they asked for,” he said.
AIADMK leader Kovai Sathyan on Sunday demanded the resignation of Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian over the Chennai Air Show incident and dubbed it as “complete mismanagement” of the DMK government.
On Sunday, Indian Air Force’s (IAF) air show at Chennai’s Marina Beach, meant to be a grand celebration, ended in a tragedy as five people, including an elderly man, died due to the overwhelming crowds. A doctor in the hospital has confirmed that the cause of the death was heat stroke.
The deceased have been identified as John (56), Karthikeyan, Srinivasan and Dinesh Kumar. “They had come to witness the air show where overwhelming crowds caused suffocation amid heat left them fainted and later died while being treated at the hospital”, said an attendant at the government hospital in Chennai. Police identified the other deceased as Srinivasan, (48) from Perangalathur(Chengelpet district), Karthikeyan, (34) from Thiruvotriyur(Chennai), Dinesh, and Mani, (55), of Marakkanam(Villupuram district).
When contacted, Omandurar Government Medical College Principal A Arvind said the hospital treated dozens affected by dehydration. “We treated more than 40 patients for dehydration. Some of them fainted and were brought here to this hospital in ambulances. They were treated and discharged,” he said.
Government sources said there were some patients who were affected by heat stroke and all of them were treated and discharged from the government hospitals in Royapettah and Omandurar. There were two inpatients in Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital(RGGH) due to some health issues and both were stable, when the reports came on Sunday night. They said no deaths were reported due to crowd or mismanagement.
More than 15 lakh people had gathered to witness the air show, causing crowd surges on roads and putting a strain on transportation. Many were forced to walk for miles to reach metro and railway stations. Ambulances struggled to navigate through the packed streets to provide timely help. Emergency services were unable to meet the demands of the crowd, despite efforts by the Chennai police.
While the air display brought moments of pride and excitement, the incident turned a celebratory event into a tragedy.
