Chennai air show deaths: TN CM Stalin announces solatium of Rs 5 lakh
The Tamil Nadu government has announced a compensation of ₹5 lakh to the families of the five people who died while watching the Chennai air show on Sunday.
On Sunday, nearly 15 lakh onlookers gathered at the city’s Marina Beach to watch the Indian Air Force’s first air show in Chennai since 2005.
However, overcrowded public transport infrastructure, coupled with severe restrictions at the venue and scorching heat, led to 5 deaths due to excessive dehydration and heatstroke, even as 102 people were taken ill.
“It is extremely painful and sad that five people have died due to heatstroke and other medical reasons while attending the India Air Force’s show in Chennai,” said Chief Minister MK Stalin, in a post on social networking site X, “Apart from conveying my deepest condolences to the bereaved family, I have also ordered ₹5 lakh each from the Chief Minister’s General Relief Fund.”
On Sunday, Chennai witnessed temperatures of between 33 to 36 degrees Celsius with humidity well above 70%, which in turn contributed to the overall heat. This meant that even the open expanses of the Marina Beach, with 15 lakh attendees, would have felt like an oven.
Videos that went viral on social media showed thousands thronging public transit systems like the Mass Rapid Transit System and the Chennai Metro Rail, on their way to Marina Beach, to witness the IAF’s aerial spectacle. Chennai also saw traffic snarls through the later morning and afternoon, which slowed motorists who were passing close to the beach.
Of the 102 people who took ill after the air show, 93 were treated as outpatients, while the rest were admitted in various hospitals with serious heat-related illnesses.