This amazing video captures the sudden and terrible tragedy that claimed 5 lives and injured at least 40 others when the main stage collapsed during a storm at the Indiana State Fair on Saturday. According to news reports no one was performing on the stage at the time of the collapse, the opening act, Sara Bareilles, had finished performing and the crowd was waiting for the main act, Sugarland, to take the stage.
More from the Associated Press:
The wind gust that toppled a stage at the Indiana State Fair Saturday night, killing five and injuring dozens of fans waiting for the country band Sugarland to perform, was a “fluke” that no one could have anticipated, the governor and others said Sunday.
The wind was far stronger than that in other areas of the fairgrounds, said Dan McCarthy, chief meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Indiana. He estimated the gust at 60 to 70 mph.
Gov. Mitch Daniels said precautions were taken before the storm, but no one could have foreseen such a strong gust focused in one place. Some witnesses have said that while a storm was expected, rain hadn’t begun to fall when the wind sent the stage rigging falling into the crowd of terrified fans.
According reporter David Lindquist there were roughly 12,000 people attending the concert, but “Between 30 and 40 percent took the advice of WLHK program director Bob Richards, who advised patrons to seek shelter at Pepsi Coliseum and the swine barn.”
I hope you’ll join me in sending my deepest sympathies to families and friends of the victims of this terrible tragedy, you are all in my thoughts and prayers.