Poor crowd management and scorching heat had left at least five people dead and 200 others indisposed, who were admitted to hospitals after the Indian Air Force (IAF) airshow at the Marina seafront in Chennai on Sunday.

This drew opposition ire with the AIADMK and the BJP targeting Chief Minister MK Stalin for mismanagement.

The spectacular event, to mark the 92nd anniversary of the IAF turned into a disastrous one with the crowd rushing to reach home immediately after the show was over. Police said the deceased were identified as Srinivasan (48), Karthikeyan (34), D John (56), Mani (55) and Dinesh Kumar.

With nearly 15 lakh people flocking the beach, chaos erupted as the arrangements were very poor and inadequate. The victims and the affected had complained of nausea and vomiting and fainted.

Unconfirmed reports have put the toll at more than ten. Temperature had soared to 36 degree Celsius and the Metro and suburban train services as well as city bus services proved to be inadequate. Of those hospitalised, nearly 100 were treated as outpatients.

Encouraged to attend the event, people have come in droves but the arrangements right from traffic management to basic amenities were very poor. Since it is held after a gap of 21 years, there was wide publicity by the Tamil Nadu Government and the IAF.

In order to get into the Limca Book of records, the organisers were interested in getting a huge crowd and people have turned in large numbers even from neighbouring districts.

Unable to bear the scorching heat, the spectators were seen rushing to get back once the event, which started at 11 am, got over around 1 pm. “The crowd started assembling on the beach from 7 am onwards and when the show was over, everyone started to leave the venue at once resulting in chaos and confusion,” an official said.

AIADMK general secretary and former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisamy blamed the DMK government for the loss of lives. “I strongly condemn the Chief Minister and the DMK government for abject failure to ensure security and proper facilities for such an important event. The state government should be held accountable,” he said.

Strongly condemning the ruling DMK and the Chief Minister in particular, BJP state president K Annamalai said “this tragedy cannot be passed off as an accident. It shows complete failure of Chief Minister MK Stalin’s administration. “I am shocked to learn the death of five people and over 200 getting hospitalised. The ruling DMK’s callousness in providing necessary security is only reason for this tragedy. It is a complete failure of the administration as it is run only for the benefit of the family,” he said in a post on ‘X’.

Many participants took to social media to register their grievances about poor crowd management and about ambulances getting stuck in the crowd. Some recalled that even the more than a week-long massive spontaneous protest to press for removing restrictions on Jallikattu – traditional bull taming festival – in 2017 at the Marina was more organised. It had attracted lakhs of people and thousands staying put on the beach, but passed off without any chaos or confusion.