Bengaluru: “I was there at Chinnaswamy Stadium Wednesday evening witnessing the celebrations. My parents called me eight times, but I couldn’t hear them. It was only after we came out that I was told about people dying and being injured at the stadium,” said Ankit Jain, a college student.“In a way, that helped. What if the calls were answered and spectators inside had panicked and started exiting in fear while those outside continued to push themselves in? The situation would have become more horrible,” he said.With over 30,000 people packed into the stadium, the families of those inside tried desperately to reach their loved ones as social media and TV news channels kept amplifying the stampede and multiple deaths outside the stadium gates. But their phone calls wouldn’t go through thanks to severely jammed networks.Nikhil Bhaktvatsal, a die-hard RCB fan, said, “It was around 4pm. I entered Cubbon Road and was walking towards Chinnaswamy Stadium when I realised I wouldn’t make it safely. I immediately decided to try entering from the members’ side. That’s where all hell broke loose, I think,” he said.“Only members of KSCA (Karnataka State Cricket Association) were allowed to enter from the members’ side, but the mob got furious and tried barging in, even as security persons tried to push them back,” he said.Nikhil and his friends managed to find seats in the M2 stand, from where they watched Raghu Dixit perform. “We realised that many people were trying to reach out to us on the phone, but the network was weak and they just couldn’t get through,” Nikhil told TOI. He left the stadium around 6.30pm and, with Metro services suspended, had to hitch-hike back to his home by 8.30pm.Another spectator, Srihari R, said his family was anxious over his safety. “The network was very poor. I started getting messages about the death toll outside. Sometimes people would call me, the phone would connect but not clearly, and my family and friends repeatedly tried to reach out to me,” Srihari said. “Had I known this would be the situation, I would have wished there was no celebration.”For Akash Bandhari, the experience was horrific. “My elder brother and I managed to get two executive lounge stand passes. But I saw that the barricades at gates 16 and 17 had fallen. Crowds were seen literally walking over those who had fallen on the ground. The worst was when I saw a guy gasping for breath and dying right in front of my eyes,” he said.“I remember a lot of people trying to get their phones out and call their families, but they could barely hear anything. Cries of ‘help’ and ‘hello’ rent the air,” Akash told TOI.Akash’s wife called him 15 times. “But she just couldn’t hear me. At one point, while I was at Cubbon Park Metro station, the phone connected briefly and she heard my ‘Hello’. That gave her relief as she found I was alive,” Akash said.