Ekana Stadium's billboard collapse kills woman-daughter duo in Lucknow

In a rather bizarre and unfortunate incident, a woman and her daughter died, while their driver got severely injured after their car got crushed by a huge billboard situated outside the Atal Bihari Vajpayee (Ekana) Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. The incident happened on Monday, May 5, after a strong gust of storm hit the area. Even though the police acted swiftly to take the injured passenger duo of mother and daughter to Lohia Hospital, they were declared dead by the doctors.

Notably, the video of this incident surfaced in the social media domain. In the video, a person was seen trapped under the debris of the collapsed hoarding yelling for help. The visuals also showed how the storm proved too strong for the billboard to survive its wrath.

ANI UP/Uttarakhand@ANINewsUP

Lucknow | Three people were injured after a board put up at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium fell on a moving car today All three persons including a man and two women have been shifted to a local hospital. The board fell due to strong winds: Police

07:02 PM · Jun 05, 2023

449

As per the reports, the police authorities were present at the spot and assisted in taking the victims to the hospital quickly. Furthermore, cranes were deployed to remove the giant hoarding while a Scorpio SUV remained submerged under the debris. The billboards were tipped to be related to the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 matches which were hosted by the Ekana Stadium.

Lucknow Super Giants crashed out of IPL 2023 after suffering defeat in the Eliminator

Notably, the stadium hosted its first international match back in 2018 and rose to prominence thereafter. Now, speaking of the last IPL 2023 match of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), they clashed against the Mumbai Indians in the Eliminator on May 24. The game was vital for both sides to keep their playoffs chances alive. However, the home team suffered a crushing defeat against MI by 81 runs.

In the notable performance in the match, pacer Akash Madhwal shone with the ball as he claimed a sensational five-wicket haul to wrap the LSG side on just 101. At one stage, the hosts were looking set to inch closer to the target but a sudden run-out saga completely derailed Lucknow's chances to even take the game deep and challenge the visitors. Consequently, LSG bowed out of the IPL 2023 in a rather humiliating manner.