BY AFP

BENGALURU, India – A stampede broke out as a tightly packed crowd celebrated the sporting win of their home cricket team in the Indian city of Bengaluru, resulting in multiple deaths, local media reported on Wednesday.

AFP could not immediately confirm the death toll, which India’s NDTV broadcaster reported to have left at least 11 people dead. The Times of India newspaper reported seven dead.

An AFP photographer saw an intense crush of crowds as a sea of people crammed the streets.

Broadcasters showed police carrying young children in their arms rushing away from crowds, who had seemingly fainted.

One unattended young man was sitting in an ambulance struggling to breathe.

Karnataka state’s Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said he was not able to immediately confirm deaths.

“This is not a controllable crowd,” he said, speaking to reporters. “The police were finding it very difficult.”

“I apologize to the people of Karnataka and Bengaluru,” he said. “We wanted to take a procession, but the crowd was very uncontrollable… the crowd was so much.”

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.

An AFP reporter said the Bengaluru team had reached the cricket stadium in the city, where celebrations had previously been planned.