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The incident occurred around 9 pm on Saturday night when a football match final between two local teams was going on. Some of the injured said the area witnessed heavy rain in the evening and no effort was made to strengthen the makeshift gallery made of coconut and areca nut wooden planks.
Nearly 60 people, including children, were injured when a makeshift gallery of a football stadium collapsed in Wandoor (Malappuram) on Saturday night. According to the police, a big tragedy was averted due to the timely intervention of spectators and local people.
The incident occurred around 9 pm when a football match final between two local teams was going on. Some of the injured said the area witnessed heavy rain in the evening and no effort was made to strengthen the makeshift gallery made of coconut and areca nut wooden planks.
They said the gallery had a capacity of 5,000 spectators but more than 25,000 people had assembled to watch the final. “After the gallery collapsed, people behaved sensibly so a stampede was averted and they rushed the injured to hospitals immediately,” said Abdul Hakim, a volunteer who participated in the rescue work.
“We have registered a case against the organisers and contractor who built the gallery at the Kalikavu lower primary school grounds,” said Kalikavu police inspector Hidayatulla Mambra adding that after investigation more people will be booked.
North Kerala’s obsession with soccer is well known. During summer days many villages conduct sevens football tournaments in which players will be seven and the ground will be just half of the original football ground. So, many empty fields and school grounds turn into sevens football venues. Some of them even hire foreign players especially from Africa to add more fervour. During the soccer Wold Cup, fans put up huge billboards and banners and wear jerseys of their favourite players.
2 soccer fans die in road accident
Two young men from Malappuram were killed in a road accident while they were going to Goa to watch the Indian Super League final between Kerala Blasters and Hyderabad FC in Goa. Police said their bike collided with a truck in the early hours of Sunday and both of them died on the spot. Both B Jamsheer and Mohammad Shibin were avid soccer enthusiasts and local-level players also. Their relatives said Jamsheer is a relative of Hyderabad player Abdul Rabeeh who sponsored their tickets.
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