Nearly two dozen people were injured after a Ferris wheel caught fire at a popular music festival in Germany over the weekend.
According to DW, more than 30 people were injured when one of the Ferris wheel’s gondolas somehow caught on fire at the Highfield festival at Störmthaler Lake near Leipzig, Germany on Saturday, Aug. 17. Not long after the first gondola burst into flames, another gondola ended up catching on fire.
In a statement to CNN, the Saxony Police stated that the Ferris wheel caught fire shortly after 9 p.m. local time. However, what caused the fire remains unclear. A total of 8 people including first responders, police officers, and others on the ride came into contact with smoke and were taken to hospitals for medical treatment.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Red Cross told DW that two people were more seriously hurt.
DW further reported that The Highfield Festival is an Indie-Rock music festival. It was set to close this Sunday and had an estimated 30,000 attendees.
“We were about 100 to 150 meters away and wanted to go to the next concert and then we saw that it was burning brightly,” one attendee told Euro News. “And that some people were still on the Ferris wheel. It was just a crazy moment, just to witness it. And then the Ferris wheel started going completely wild, it started spinning wildly while there still were some people inside and it was still burning. It was intense.”
CNN further reported that the organizers decided to “cordon off” the ferris wheel. But they continued on with the remainder of the weekend party. Police have launched an investigation into what caused the fire.
German Rapper Ski Aggu Recalls Being Told to Continue Performing On Stage Amid Ferris Wheel Fire
While first responders were tackling the Ferris wheel blaze, German rapper Ski Aggu was on the festival’s stage performing. The musician revealed in his Instagram Story hours after the incident that he was told to continue performing.
“I was just told through my earpiece that I should not end the show under any circumstances,” Aggu explained. He further pointed out that this was done to avoid a “mass panic” in the crowd.
He then continued, “For me, the priority was that the situation did not escalate further, which fortunately also worked. Thank you for staying so calm and possibly preventing worse.”
The rapper also wrote that he was “dismayed and shocked” over the night’s chaotic events.
Leipzig Police Department spokesperson, Josephin Sader, added, “The criminal investigators are on the scene and are investigating the cause of the fire and will also summon an arson investigator. The area of the fire is blocked off for the moment.”