Gurgaon: A 23-year-old woman reportedly died of cardiac arrest induced by suffocation in an overcrowded concert of EDM artist Skrillex here on Sunday night, police and a family friend said. The family is in a state of shock and has not decided on a course of action.
Aanchal Arora, a fashion design student, suffered a cardiac arrest at the venue, caused due to lack of oxygen, as the HUDA ground was reported to be brimming with people much beyond its capacity.
Aanchal’s friend Aashima, who accompanied her at the event, fell unconscious and was in intensive care of a private hospital here, but was expected to soon be discharged.
Asked about the incident, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (East) Deepak Saharan said: “Police got the information...when the girl was taken to the hospital. She was declared as brought dead and police have started their investigations.”
“The further course of action depends on the (autopsy) report by the doctors,” he said, adding that proceedings have been initiated under section 174 (accidental death) of the criminal procedure code (CrPC).
Asked if the parents would take any action, Somesh Arora, a family friend, said: “At the moment they are very distressed. Tomorrow is the cremation at Punjabi Bagh. They are very disturbed. The mother is unable to come out of the shock... It’s such a traumatic thing that they can’t even think of all these things (legal action) at the moment.”
“From whatever we have got to know, the crowd was in excess with hardly any arrangements and that’s probably what went wrong... She (Aanchal) suffocated and her friend (Aashima), who was there with her was in the same position. They did not have any health ailments. They both were in good shape... it’s clearly a matter of negligence. A precious life has been lost,” Arora lamented.
“Aashima was hospitalised... she will soon be discharged,” he added.
When journalists tried to contact the organisers, they said they were unavailable for a comment.
HUDA Ground is a prominent location for events and concerts in the Delhi/NCR region.
International and national artists like Enrique Iglesias, Atif Aslam, Arijit Singh and Mika have performed at the venue in the past.
