Twelve people were injured, three of them seriously, when the temporary gallery at the Sri Durga Parameshwari grounds, hosting the 15th Senior South Zone volleyball championship, collapsed on Sunday.

Of the three seriously injured, two had multiple fractures in their legs while the third person couldn’t breathe properly for a while as a sharp wooden piece had pierced through his shoulder region. The three were admitted to a nearby hospital. It was the second time the stands had collapsed during the tournament. On Thursday, the western stands had collapsed, with the fans escaping injuries at that time. On Sunday, it was the northern stands that caved in.

The incident occurred just before the start of the Karnataka-Kerala men’s match, which was also the title-deciding encounter. With the hosts in contention, a large number of fans had thronged the venue.

The teams were warming up inside the court when the stands, holding more than 400 fans, collapsed. Spectators were cheering and dancing in the stands with none to control them. The organisers, who should have taken precautionary measures after Thursday’s incident, could only admit that “the gallery was over-crowded.”

KVA Secretary, K Nandakumar, had nothing to say about the collapse, even though the organisers had promised on Thursday that the stands would be strengthened before the bigger matches.