Two Fife men were among those caught up in a deadly stage collapse at a music festival in Belgium.
Chris Harrower (33), who is originally from West Wemyss, and Ryan McHugh (30), from Glenrothes, were on stage with American band Smith Westerns at the Pukkelpop Festival when a storm caused the temporary structure to collapse around them.
Both managed to scramble to safety, but at least five people were killed and up to 100 were seriously injured in Thursday’s incident when the vast Chateau stage came down, while a second stage was also severely damaged by trees.
Tour manager Chris described the experience as “frightening” and expressed his sympathy for the relatives of the people who lost their lives.
“We were due to play at around 6.15pm and to be honest it just started raining – we never expected what was going to happen next,” he said.
“As our show was in a tented arena I could not see how bad the weather had changed, as we were all at the side of stage preparing gear and the band for the performance.
“We kicked off the set and just before the end of the first song the screen behind the drummer came crashing down around him.
“This was the first sign I had that things were just not right.”‘Folded like a pack of cards’He added: “After the screen was removed from stage, I turned and looked up towards the structure of the tent and noticed there was movement beginning to occur.
“My first thought was to get the guys to safety, then all of a sudden one side of the tent ripped open and a huge gust of wind filled the tent.”
Chris told how rigging and equipment began to fall, adding that the front lighting truss crashed on to the stage just feet from the band’s singer Cullen Omori.
“The whole structure folded like a pack of cards around us,” he went on.
Ryan, who was front of house engineer, was forced to take cover under his mixing desk to avoid debris falling on him.
Chris said: “People were screaming and running for safety. Luckily I got my guys off and out to the backstage area in time but I had not heard or seen Ryan for around 10 minutes, and was starting to worry for his safety.
“Finally Ryan emerged from the devastation soaking wet, as we all were, and explained how he had managed to escape.
“There have been a few stage collapses this year alone, but I never thought it would happen on a show I was involved in.”
“The weather was freak, almost like a mini tornado that came and went in around 15 minutes.
“My thoughts go out to those who lost lives, and to the festival itself, as it is in my opinion one of the best festivals on the circuit.”‘Deep mourning’Belgian media reported that trees were uprooted by the violent storm and smashed into the stage, while some festival-goers reported that a tornado had struck.
The stage collapse meant the event, which started in 1985 near the Belgium town of Hasselt, had to be cancelled.
It is thought most of the crowd had been unprepared for the stormy weather that swept through the festival site, with many men said to be wearing just T-shirts and shorts, and girls wearing just bikinis or crop tops.
The festival site also quickly turned into a mudbath due to the heavy rain, hampering the efforts of emergency services.
Organisers of Pukkelpop – which attracts around 180,000 people, including young Britons, said they were ‘deeply moved’ by what had happened.
“Pukkelpop is in deep mourning,” organisers said in a statement.
“We truly sympathise with the families and friends of the victims.”
Smith Westerns, who hail from Chicago, took to Twitter after narrowly escaping serious injury themselves.
“Almost got crushed by the trees, I hope Pukkelpop has insurance because all our equipment is broken,” the band said shortly after the incident, before adding: “Praying no one got hurt.”