More Than 60 People Injured After Ferris Wheel Catches Fire At Music Festival
on Aug 20, 2024
More than 60 people were injured after two carriages on a Ferris wheel caught fire at a music festival in Germany.
The Highfield Festival, a three-day event known as one of the biggest rock music festivals in Germany, welcomes roughly 25,000 attendees each year. The festival has hosted some of rock’s biggest names from around the globe over the course of its 26-year history.
On the final day of the 2024 event, events came to a grinding halt when a Ferris wheel operating on the premises burst into flames. Concertgoers captured the moment on video when one of the ride’s gondolas caught fire and spread to an adjacent gondola.
The Leipzig Police Department issued a statement stating that the fire started just after 9 p.m. local time. The statement confirmed that 65 people received treatment. 16 were taken to local hospitals for further treatment. Four people are being treated for burns and another suffered injuries resulting from a fall. Most of the injuries were related to smoke inhalation.
“None of the injured were in a life-threatening condition. Following the deployment of the fire investigator, an initial assessment of the cause of the fire is now available. In a yet unknown manner, material located under the Ferris wheel caught fire. The fire subsequently spread to a gondola. Further investigations are ongoing,” the statement read.
German rapper Ski Aggu was onstage when the Ferris wheel caught fire. In an Instagram story posted the following day, he shared that he was “dismayed and shocked” by the incident. He also shared that he was told in his in-ear monitor to “not cancel the show under any circumstances” and instructed to keep the crowd calm “to avoid any mass panic.”
“For me, the priority was to ensure that the situation did not escalate further, which fortunately worked,” he added. “Thank you for all staying calm and possibly preventing something worse from happening.”
See footage of the terrifying event in the video below.
