In the second major incident of the week, reports are emerging that three people have been killed at a festival in Belgium after several stages collapsed in a storm. Early indication are that as many as four stages may have been bought down during the heavy winds and rain though this is yet to be confirmed.
Pukkelpop is an annual music festival in Belgium. Due to appear this year were acts including Eminem, Foo Fighters, Bring Me The Horizon, Skrillex and 30 Seconds to Mars.
Smith Westerns who were on the stage at the time of the collapse posted to their facebook page “We are all ok but more importantly we are just now hearing the horrific news that this isn’t the case for everyone, our thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones in today’s tragedy.”
The Pukkelpop organisation has decided to cancel all shows tonight out of respect for the victims.
It comes in the wake of a similar tragic incident at the weekend when a stage collapsed in Indiana killing Five.
As an industry safety is always a top priority, it would seem there were very extreme conditions in both these incidents, but hopefully after they have been investigated lessons can be learned to try and prevent further instances of stage collapses. We seem to be seeing a worrying number now, one collapse is bad enough, we really need to act in a pro-active manner to stop this happening again. Please be safe out there this festival season!
If anyone is concerned about anybody at the festival they can call the emergency information number +32 011 23 97 11. We will keep this article updated as we hear more confirmed reports.
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