Stage equipment dangles in high winds as rain-soaked concertgoers run for cover

A storm has hit an open air music festival east of the capital, killing at least two people, Belgian media reported Thursday.

Video from the Pukkelpop festival near the town of Hasselt showed stage equipment dangling in high winds as rain-soaked concertgoers ran for cover.


Winds toppled trees and blew over the Chateau tent, dining tent and several sponsor booths, said Nieuswblad.be. Heavy rain and hail drove the audience to seek shelter in festival tents. A collapsed metal frame blocked the main entrance, preventing many from leaving when the storm swiftly moved in and dumped up to four inches of rain, witnesses said.

The dead were described as one young man and one adult. At least 11 people with serious injuries were sent to hospitals, The Standard newspaper reported. Others with lesser wounds were treated at a nearby sports hall.

In the smallest tent, the Chateau, the support structure broke, The Standard reported. The boiler-room partly collapsed.

"The Chateau was flat in one minute, while Smith was playing Westerns. Everything collapsed or blew away," said The Standard journalist Peter Vantyghem, who was injured.

The festival's website lists a number of stages where concerts and performances were to be held during the three day event, that started on Thursday.

Reports say some 60,000 people are attending the event.

The Belgium incident is the sixth stage accident at a large venue since the start of July.

Five people were killed Saturday at the Indiana State Fair after an unexpected wind gust knocked massive rigging into the audience awaiting a Sugarland concert.

Earlier this month, wind blew over a lighting rig at a music festival in Tulsa, Okla., and lightning toppled a stage under assembly near Quebec City. That followed a summer gale that toppled a stage in July at a music festival in Ottawa, Canada, where the band Cheap Trick was performing. Three people were hospitalized.

In 2009, another Canadian storm knocked over a stage in Camrose, Alberta, killing one person and injuring about 75. And that same summer, a stage failed at Quebec City comedy festival.