Stampede outside stadium in India's Bengaluru kills 11

BENGALURU, India — At least 11 people were killed in a stampede on Wednesday as a tightly packed crowd celebrated the victory of their home cricket team in the Indian city of Bengaluru, the state's chief minister said.

Joyous cricket fans had come out to celebrate and welcome home their heroes, Royal Challengers Bengaluru after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster Indian Premier League cricket final on Tuesday night.

But the euphoria of the huge crowd ended in a disaster, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling it "absolutely heartrending".

Karnataka state Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said "most of the deceased are young", with 11 dead and 47 injured in the stampede.

"No one expected such a huge crowd," he told reporters, adding that the entire police force of the city had been deployed.

"The stadium has a capacity of only 35,000 people, but 200,000-300,000 people came."

He said a victory street parade by the winning team was called off as authorities had anticipated an uncontrollable crowd.

"The pain of this tragedy has even erased the joy of victory," said Siddaramaiah, who has ordered an inquiry into the deaths.

"I don't want to defend the incident, the tragedy … our government is not going to play politics on this," he added.

"This tragedy should not have happened, we are with the victims."

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said "hundreds of thousands of people" had flocked onto the streets and that police had been "finding it very difficult".

A sea of people had crammed the streets and police waved sticks, Agence France-Presse reported.

Mallikarjun Kharge, a senior Congress party leader, said the "loss of precious lives and the injuries" was "profoundly distressing". "The joy of victory should never come at the cost of lives," he said in a statement.

India's mega cricketing tournament IPL wrapped up on Tuesday night. It was watched by 91,000 fans packed into a stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state — and many millions more on television.

Fans in Bengaluru celebrated wildly after RCB clinched victory for the first time in 18 years of the IPL, with their three previous finals having all ended in defeat.

Reports said the stampede broke out at gate numbers 3, 10 and 21 at the stadium. Following the incident, authorities closed three metro stations — Cubbon Park, Vidhana Soudha, and MG Road — which fall within a 5-kilometer radius of the stadium.

Eyewitnesses said police and volunteers shifted injured and unconscious people to nearby hospitals.

Deadly crowd incidents are a frequent occurrence at Indian mass events.

A stampede at the Kumbh Mela religious fair in January killed 30 people and injured several others.

In July last year, 121 people were killed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh during a gathering.

Agencies - Xinhua