Posted by: rajeshHamal February 5, 2012
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Hi, (just for somewhat younger friends)
I was not there, but at home. It was a normal Falgun weather---but an unexpected storm in the afternoon with wind gust and hailstorm caught people by surprise.
To avoid the hail storm, people from the open, roof-less part of the stadium rushed to the exits - 2 gates in particular, I think. If you have not been to the Dasharath Rangasaala, then you may not get how these gates are configured. It has steep stairs, may be 20 feet wide. But there are collapsible sliding metal gates somewhere half way down the stairs. These gates are opened just few feet wide to let one person pass at a time. To make matters worse, the stairs have some gaps running from top to bottom, just enough to let your legs get caught.
These stair-wells became the deep well where people got trapped. People just kept pushing those below--which is not an unexpected of our Nepali temperament.
An uncle, a soccer fan, who was in the roofed part of the stadium, came home terrified said he saw hundred lying on the grass in the aftermath!
Many young souls lost their lives.
(And, in those innocent days, nothing dramatic would happen in Nepal. Last major incident was the four bomb blasts conspired by Ram Raja Prasad Singh, and then the assasination attempt of reporter Padam Thakurathi! And the 2045 earhquake But I forgot was it before or after this incident.)
I was not there, but at home. It was a normal Falgun weather---but an unexpected storm in the afternoon with wind gust and hailstorm caught people by surprise.
To avoid the hail storm, people from the open, roof-less part of the stadium rushed to the exits - 2 gates in particular, I think. If you have not been to the Dasharath Rangasaala, then you may not get how these gates are configured. It has steep stairs, may be 20 feet wide. But there are collapsible sliding metal gates somewhere half way down the stairs. These gates are opened just few feet wide to let one person pass at a time. To make matters worse, the stairs have some gaps running from top to bottom, just enough to let your legs get caught.
These stair-wells became the deep well where people got trapped. People just kept pushing those below--which is not an unexpected of our Nepali temperament.
An uncle, a soccer fan, who was in the roofed part of the stadium, came home terrified said he saw hundred lying on the grass in the aftermath!
Many young souls lost their lives.
(And, in those innocent days, nothing dramatic would happen in Nepal. Last major incident was the four bomb blasts conspired by Ram Raja Prasad Singh, and then the assasination attempt of reporter Padam Thakurathi! And the 2045 earhquake But I forgot was it before or after this incident.)