Stampede during screening of Allu Arjun blockbuster leaves mother dead and child critically injured

A 39-year-old woman was crushed to death and her nine-year-old son severely injured after a stampede broke out at the premiere of an Indian film in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Authorities identified the woman as M Revathi, who had come to watch the film with her husband M Bhaskar, their son, and seven-year-old daughter.

According to Indian media, huge crowds gathered at the Sandhya Theatre in Hyderabad, the capital of the south Indian state of Telangana, to get a glimpse of actor Allu Arjun, whose film Pushpa 2: The Rule was screening at the theatre.

Once Arjun arrived at the theatre along with the film’s music director Devi Sri Prasad around 10.30pm, the crowds pushed forward.

Authorities said that the theatre gates, which were shut, collapsed under the pressure of the crowd, which led to the stampede, adding that the police had to resort to baton-charge to control people.

“People who were exiting the theatre from a previous show were caught in the midst of the crowd. Revathi and her son fell down in the stampede. The police personnel present there tried to resuscitate Revathi for several minutes. She and her son were rushed to Durgabai Deshmukh Hospital where Revathi was declared dead. Her son has been shifted to KIMS hospital with serious injuries and is in a critical condition,” an police officer from the station where a case has been registered, said, according to The Indian Express.

The KIMS Hospital confirmed in a statement that the woman died from severe injuries sustained during the stampede and the child was brought in a semi-conscious state, and that he had been given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) by police personnel. After arrival, he was put on ventilatory support, reported The Hindu.

“A CT scan of the brain and spine was performed, revealing no significant abnormalities. While lactic acidosis has improved, the child’s sensorium remains impaired. The condition is still critical, and the patient is under intensive care with continuous monitoring as the medical team works to stabilise him,” the hospital said.

Hyderabad police have now registered a criminal case against the theatre and its management, and said that the theatre will be sealed as a part of the investigation process.

“There was negligence on their part in ensuring crowd control measures were in place. Strict action will be taken against all those responsible for the incident,” a senior police official told The Times of India.

Pushpa 2: The Rule is a sequel to the 2021 film Pushpa: The Rise, and stars Allu Arjun in the lead role, along with Fahadh Faasil, Rashmika Mandanna, Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari, Dhananjaya, Sunil, and Ajay Ghosh. The films follow Pushpa Raj, a labourer-turned-mafia kingpin who rises in a syndicate that smuggles the rare red sandalwood. In Pushpa 2, Pushpa Raj “struggles to sustain his sandalwood smuggling business in the face of tough opposition from the police,” according to its synopsis.