Two of the men who died of heatstroke after watching Sunday’s air show in Chennai with their families collapsed as they walked back to get their motorbikes, parked a short distance from where their wives waited for them.

“My husband asked me to wait with our two-and-a-half-year-old kid at the entrance to the beach, where we had remained stationed for about an hour and a half and watched the air show,” the wife of Karthikeyan, 34, of Thiruvottiyur said.

Seeing the massive crowd on the beach, the family had decided not to get close to the venue and watched the IAF’s aerobatic skills from a distance.

“At 1.30pm, he said he would be back with his bike in 10 minutes to pick us up. But he did not return even after two hours although his mobile phone kept ringing,” she said.

At 3.30pm, someone answered the call and told her that her husband had vomited and lay near his bike.

With the help of a policeman, she walked to the spot and found her husband lying still. He was taken to a government hospital in an ambulance but was declared dead on arrival.

She believes he could have been saved had there been a policeman nearby. “Ambulances were lined up on the road close by, but strangely none of the medical staff or passers-by noticed my husband,” she said.

Another victim — John, 56, of Kurukkupet — too appears to have fainted as he walked up to his motorbike, after being exposed to the intense heat during the two-hour display.

“I tried to revive him.... We found it difficult to get an ambulance promptly. He was rushed to the Omandurar government hospital, where doctors said he had already died,” his wife said.

The other three dead men have been identified as Srinivasan of Perungalathur, Dhinesh Kumar of Kurnool, and Mani of Marakkanam.

The intense heat had left many spectators restive by noon, and they began leaving. Several people told local television channels that the crowd management and transport arrangements could have been better.

“We were made to walk a long distance with state buses dropping us far from the venue. Barricades had cut off the approach road to the Marina (beach),” a spectator complained.

Police sources pleaded helplessness saying the crowd size had exceeded expectations.

However, Tamil Nadu health minister Ma Subramanian claimed that arrangements had been made in excess of what the air force had suggested, and appealed to political parties and the media not to politicise the issue.

Chief minister M.K. Stalin posted on X: “It is extremely painful and sad that five people died due to heatstroke and medical reasons while attending the Air Force adventure program in Chennai.”