LifestyleFerris wheel fire at German festival leaves over 20 injured

Ferris wheel fire at German festival leaves over 20 injured

Tragic events took place during the rock and pop festival by Lake Stoermthal in Germany. These events involved people who took advantage of a popular tourist attraction, the Ferris wheel.

During the festival, the cars of the so-called Ferris wheel caught fire. There were people inside (illustrative photo).
During the festival, the cars of the so-called Ferris wheel caught fire. There were people inside (illustrative photo).
Images source: © Adobe Stock

8:19 AM EDT, August 18, 2024

At the Highfield Festival near Leipzig, two Ferris wheel gondolas caught fire late Saturday evening. More than 20 people were injured. Investigators are currently trying to determine what exactly happened. A fire expert is on the scene.

How could the fire have started?

The expert has been at the festival grounds since early morning and has started the investigation, said a police spokeswoman, quoted by the DPA agency. At this point, attention is focused on how the accident could have occurred.

On Saturday, one of the 24 Ferris wheel gondolas caught fire, then spread to the second gondola.

Burned and injured from the fall

Investigators are still trying to determine what exactly happened in those few minutes. According to the police, at least 23 people were injured and taken to hospitals - four of them suffered burns, and one was injured as a result of a fall.

The other injured, including rescuers and at least four police officers, were examined in the hospital for possible smoke inhalation.

The police were unable to provide any information about the condition of the injured, their age, and gender in the morning after the fire. The exact number of injured has also not been finalized yet, the spokeswoman said.

"The rock and pop festival by Lake Stoermthal, with around 30,000 guests, was interrupted for about two hours. The show then continued," the "Welt" newspaper portal wrote.

© essanews.com
·

Downloading, reproduction, storage, or any other use of content available on this website—regardless of its nature and form of expression (in particular, but not limited to verbal, verbal-musical, musical, audiovisual, audio, textual, graphic, and the data and information contained therein, databases and the data contained therein) and its form (e.g., literary, journalistic, scientific, cartographic, computer programs, visual arts, photographic)—requires prior and explicit consent from Wirtualna Polska Media Spółka Akcyjna, headquartered in Warsaw, the owner of this website, regardless of the method of exploration and the technique used (manual or automated, including the use of machine learning or artificial intelligence programs). The above restriction does not apply solely to facilitate their search by internet search engines and uses within contractual relations or permitted use as specified by applicable law.Detailed information regarding this notice can be found  here.