Main stage collapses at Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest
Posted Jul 18, 2011 7:19 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Emergency officials confirmed that no one was trapped, and ten people were injured. One of them is in life-threatening condition.
The scene was a sea of flashing emergency lights, with paramedics treating the injured.
Michael Latimer with Ottawa EMS describes their conditions.
“We treated approximately five patients, two of them with minor injuries, two with moderate to severe injuries: one neck injury and one chest injury,” he says. “[We also treated] one 49-year-old male with serious, life-threatening injuries. He suffered a penetrating wound to the abdomen, a fractured leg and a fractured pelvis. The 49-year-old male was transported to the trauma centre in serious to critical condition.”
Very intense winds and rain caused extensive damage around the site as festival attendees sought shelter.
Classic Rock artists Cheap Trick were nearing the end of their set on the main MBNA stage when the stage fell backwards on equipment along the side of the parkway.
Ross was in the crowd and tells 660News sister station, 1310News, the storm seemed to come out of nowhere.
“All of a sudden, Cheap Trick ran off the stage,” Ross says. “I guess they could hear something happening and then very slowly, it was very surreal and just the whole stage just came down. Fortunately it came down pushed away from the crowd.”
Concert goer Tom Sherwood tells 1310News when it collapsed.
“The wind was picking up the banners and the tarps looked like they were carrying wind almost like sails on a boat,” Sherwood says. “Then all of a sudden, you just started hearing this cranking noise and then the stage falls backwards… It didn’t all collapse into itself, it just kind of set itself down almost, like it was being brought to the ground.”
Sherwood says he was shocked to see the stage collapse.
“I was just walking around stunned, like I couldn’t believe what just happened,” he says. “Then basically, what was happening was security guards were just shepherding the people out of the concert venue.”
Members of Cheap Trick say on their Facebook page that they were merely shaken up and weren’t hurt. Without elaborating, Cheap Trick lead singer Robin Zander ended the band’s Internet posting with the words, “And all the best to our truck driver Sandy.” Band manager Dave Frey tells C-N-N that one of their drivers will spend the night in the hospital. No details on his condition are available.
