Fans faint and suffer injuries as India’s T20 World Cup parade narrowly avoids crush

Two people suffered injuries and several fainted as thousands of fans packed the streets of Mumbai for the Indian cricket team’s T20 World Cup victory parade, barely days after a crowd crush at a religious function killed 121 people in northern India.

Several fans also reported trouble breathing as crowds jostled to see the victorious players and the World Cup trophy being paraded in an open-top bus on Thursday night, police said.

The parade left in its wake hundreds of slippers strewn on the roads, collapsed police barricades, damaged vehicles and broken signboards.

The scenes were reminiscent of Tuesday’s devastating stampede in Hathras in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Fans packed Marine Drive, a 3km promenade along the Arabian sea, as the victorious players arrived for a brief roadshow on Thursday evening before heading to the Wankhede stadium for a facilitation ceremony.

The Mumbai police urged commuters to avoid Marine Drive due to the “heavy rush of fans”.

A video showed a policeman carrying a woman who appeared to have fainted as he struggled to make his way out of the crowd.

Rishab Mahesh Yadav, a fan, said he slipped and fell unconscious. “The crowd was swelling. I fell and got choked. I became unconscious and was taken to a nearby hospital, where I received treatment. I feel fine now. The crowd was more than necessary. There was mismanagement. The police were also not alert,” he told news agency ANI.

As skipper Rohit Sharma and his players brandished the World Cup trophy, jubilant fans celebrated by dancing.

The team arrived in Delhi on Thursday, three days after their thrilling final victory against South Africa, ending over a decade-long hunt for silverware.

They were stranded in Barbados as hurricane Beryl passed through the Caribbean nation on Monday, causing high winds and destroying property.

The team met prime minister Narendra Modi in the national capital before heading to Mumbai.