Someone’s worst nightmare came true this past weekend. A Ferris Wheel caught fire in Leipzig, Germany during the Highfield music festival. It led to at least 30 people people injured including 4 suffering burns and another injured from a fall.
The incident occurred at roughly 9 PM local time when German rapper Ski Aggu was onstage. The rapper later said on social media that he was told to continue his performance despite the blaze in the visible distance. Ski had this to say:
“I was only told through my earpiece that I should not stop the show under any circumstances, but should initially continue to talk with you so avoid mass panic. The priority was to prevent the situation from escalating any further. Fortunately, that worked.”
An initial investigation found that the fire started in one empty gondola and then spread to a neighboring gondola. Thankfully it started in an empty one or this could have been worse. The cause of the fire was undetermined as of Sunday.
Two of the 30 injured people suffered unspecified serious injuries, while four more suffered burns in the incident. One person also sustained injuries from a fall, the German Red Cross said, while the majority of the remaining injuries were smoke inhalation-related.