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BY STEVEN HSIEH
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Authorities say at least five people died and more than 40 were injured after a stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair Saturday.
Concertgoers were waiting for the band Sugarland when a sudden gust of wind sent the stage rigging to the ground. An Indianapolis Star reporter gives MSNBC a timeline.
“You know, there was a warning just before 5 p.m. yesterday that said there would be severe thunderstorms that might have damaging winds… The storm began looming at 8:43. WLHK program director Bob Richards came on stage and announced Sugarland would begin as planned at 8:45. It was less than a minute later when the rig toppled.”
Fox spoke with witnesses, who described the scene.
Witness 1: “We looked to the left and you could see the dust rolling in, and about the time I turned my head back to the stage, the cover on the stage started to fall. It took about five seconds, and it was down. It was down. And people freaked.”
Authorities are investigating the accident, raising questions, like whether fair officials warned fans about the impending storm. A reporter for WISH has the word…
“A spokesperson from the fair last night did tell us that they did in fact let the audience know about the potential threat and advised them to take shelter. Still a bit of uncertainty there, so we want to get that cleared up.”
And video blogger Zennie Abraham raises questions about the stage design itself.
“Why would somebody design a structure that’s so apparently top heavy? Where it seems all the weight is on top. And it has a support system that is, at best, questionable. You know, we see these kinds of structures at concerts all the time, and it never goes through our minds that, maybe they’re just designed incorrectly.”
In the midst of tragedy, some fair-goers jumped in to help lift the stage rigging off of people trapped under. Indiana governor Mitch Daniels commended his state’s citizens… (YouTube/musicpix)
“Individual Hoosiers ran to the trouble not from the trouble… I’ve heard it from everybody I debriefed this morning, people rushing up, ‘I’m a nurse, I’m a doctor, I’m a trained EMS responder.’ But also people who simply pitched in. And it’s the character that we associate with our state. People don’t have to be paid for it." (WXIN)
The Indiana State fair closed Sunday, but is planned to reopen on Monday with a special memorial ceremony for victims of the accident.
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