Dozens hurt in German festival ferris wheel fire
Dozens of people were injured when two gondolas on a ferris wheel caught fire at Germany’s Highfield festival.
The incident took place at around 9pm on Saturday (17 August) – the second night of the Leipzig event – during a set by rapper Ski Aggu.
Police say that 65 people were treated in connection with the fire, with 16 taken to hospital for further medical treatment. Four of the casualties suffered burns and another was hurt in a fall, but none of the injuries were life-threatening.
Initial reports suggested material located under the ferris wheel caught fire before spreading to an empty gondola, which subsequently spread to a second.
Police say the investigation into the cause has now been completed.
“There is currently no indication that the fire was caused intentionally,” says a statement from Saxony Police. “A technical defect in the ride can also be ruled out as the cause of the fire based on the current state of the investigation. The investigations, particularly into negligent misconduct, are still ongoing.”
“We would like to thank everyone present for impressively showing how solidarity works, even in a difficult situation”
The scene around the ferris wheel was cordoned off, with organisers announcing at 10pm that the festival would resume with an amended timetable. Acts over the course of the weekend included Rise Against, CRO, The Kooks, Peter Fox, Provinz and Martimoto.
A joint venture by promoters FKP Scorpio and Semmel Concerts, the 35,000-cap festival was held at Störmthaler Lake between 16-18 August.
“We would like to thank everyone present for impressively showing how solidarity works, even in a difficult situation,” says Stephan Thanscheidt, FKP MD and head of festival bookings. “When the first gondola of the ferris wheel caught fire, first responders from the security service and the festival crew, emergency services, police and fire brigade ensured that all occupants were evacuated as quickly as possible and that the fire was brought under control in just a few minutes. We wish the injured a speedy recovery.
“Our thanks also go to all our guests, whose exemplary behaviour made the rescue work much easier, and to our amazing artists, who despite everything made Highfield a great music festival and peacefully stood up for diversity and solidarity through music.”
A Ferris wheel caught fire and injured a number of people at the Highfield music festival near Leipzig in eastern Germany pic.twitter.com/VO1zVPBKFP
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 18, 2024
In an Instagram post, Ski Aggu says he was advised by festival staff to continue his performance to avoid causing panic.
“I was only told in my ear that I should not cancel the show under any circumstances but should first remain in dialogue with you so that there is no mass panic,” he says. “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 decisive factor for this was above all the work of the rescue workers, who reacted so quickly and thus prevented the situation from worsening.”
Leipzig district administrator Henry Graichen and mayor Daniel Strobel thanked the emergency services “for their quick and courageous intervention”, as well as praising promoters’ “professional handling of this challenging situation”.
“Since the Highfield Festival took place for the first time at Störmthaler Lake in 2010, a relationship of trust has developed between the actors involved, which enabled rapid action in this specific exceptional situation,” they say. “The operation will soon be evaluated in detail in order to draw possible conclusions for the security concept of future festivals.”
Highfield, which will return on 15-17 August next year, has already announced its K.I.Z as its first 2025 headliner. Festival passes go on sale today from €169.
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No infections at multi-venue pilot in Leipzig
There were zero Covid-19 infections during a pilot event series held across nine venues in Leipzig in May and June, organisers announced today.
Comprising 17 events, ranging from club nights to cabaret and children’s shows, Modellprojekt Kultur/Reallabor Leipzig (Model Project [for] Culture/Real Laboratory Leipzig) was held between 26 May and 27 June and involved over 1,000 participants.
All events were held without face masks and social distancing, though all guests were tested for Covid-19 prior to entry, as well as after the shows. As of a week after the final event, no cases of Covid-19 had been detected by researchers from Leipzig University Hospital, the Max Planck Institute of Leipzig and Klinik St Georg, the series’ medical partners.
Participating venues included Academixer, Cammerspiele, Die Villa, Distillery, Kulturhof Gohlis, Moritzbastei, Schauspiel Leipzig, Thomanerchor/Thomaskirche und Werk 2.
A total of 400 people attended two of the 18 events, a two-night club event held at Distillery, with two people turned away beforehand after testing positive for the virus.
“The ball is now in the politicians’ court”
The Modellprojekt followers earlier pilot shows held in Leipzig, including the Restart-19 concert, the first major pilot event, which served as a model for other ‘test’ concerts internationally.
“We are pleased with the positive progress of Modellprojekt Kultur/Reallabor Leipzig,” says project coordinator Tobias Loy in a release. “We have gained insights into how a wide range of cultural events can be held easily and safely. The fact that we were even able to show how dance events can work safely without a mask and distance was an important step.
“The ball is now in the politicians’ court. The concepts are available and tested. Now these must also be permitted for normal event operations.”
Dr Stephan Borte from Klinik St Georg says pre-event testing will allow live events to go ahead safely this autumn and winter. “Similar projects are also feasible in schools and daycare centres and should be used instead of closing [them],” he adds.
Steffen Kache, board member of LiveMusikKommission and another coordinator of the project, adds: “For us club operators, this model project shows a way to keep operations going even in a pandemic. […] It gives the entire culture industry a perspective and scope for action.”
This article forms part of IQ’s Covid-19 resource centre – a knowledge hub of essential guidance and updating resources for uncertain times.
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Restart-19: “Heroes” simulate Covid-19 spread at test show
The scientists behind the Restart-19 project, who invited thousands of volunteers to take part in three experimental concerts in Germany on Saturday, say the study should provide valuable data about the Covid-19 infection risks posed by large indoor events.
Fifteen hundred people took part in the experiment, held at the Quarterback Immobilien Arena (12,200-cap.) in Leipzig on 22 August as part of Restart-19, a partially publicly funded research project run by the University Hospital in Halle (Universitätsmedizin, UKH).
As IQ reported in July, the study comprised three concerts by singer Tim Bendzko: one with no social distancing at all, pre-coronavirus style; one with “optimised hygiene measures”, such as more entrances/exits and some distance between concertgoers; and one with full social distancing, with attendees seated 1.5 metres apart.
“We are very satisfied. The data acquisition went very well”
While the UKH team initially planned for the experiment to involve 4,000 people, data from the 1,500 volunteers – each of whom was equipped with a tracker device – provided enough information to “work with very well”, says Restart-19 head Dr Stefan Moritz.
For all three scenarios, which took place over ten hours, attendees (who were tested for Covid-19 in advance, and had their temperatures checked prior to entry) were asked to wear a face covering and use hand sanitiser containing fluorescent dye. The dye-laced disinfectant then marked “high-touch” areas when the audience simulated going to the loo or visiting F&B vendors between shows, as requested by Moritz’s team.
“We are very satisfied,” he said on Saturday. “The data acquisition went very well, so we have good quality data; the mood is great; and we are extremely please with how disciplined people have been in wearing the mask and using the [hand] disinfectant.”
Other tests included the use smoke machines to reproduce the spread of aerosols in an indoor arena environment (it is believed the coronavirus can survive in the air for up to three hours) and the simulation of public transport traffic to and from the venue.
“We are excited to see what will come of the study,” says Matthias Kölmel, managing director of arena operator ZSL Betreibergesellschaft, who nevertheless emphasises that “this is not a panacaea.”
In Saxony, of which Leipzig is the most populous city, events of up to 1,000 people are currently permitted with social distancing. In Germany as a whole, a federal ban on non-distanced large-scale gatherings is in place until at least November.
Bendzko says he hopes the Restart-19 show can help speed along the return of “real concerts”, for the sake of Germany’s love music industry.
“I hope that the results will help us to play real concerts in front of an audience again soon,” he says, adding that the vast majority of people involved in music and events work in the background, rather than on stage. “We are approaching a major disaster here and we urgently need to find solutions.”
Karsten Günther of SC DHfK Handball, which plays in the arena, pays tribute to the 1,500 people who gave up their Saturdays to be part of the experiment. “[They stood] in the pouring rain outside the venue, waiting to be admitted, then spent ten hours with us during the day, going in and out three times in the heat of the midsummer,” he says. “These are our heroes.”
This article forms part of IQ’s Covid-19 resource centre – a knowledge hub of essential guidance and updating resources for uncertain times.
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Concert simulations used to restart events in Germany
German scientists are teaming up with singer Tim Bendzko to launch a series of concert simulations and investigate how to prevent Covid-19 from spreading at large events.
Restart-19, which has received €990,000 in funding from the federal states of Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony, where the country’s first standing post-Covid concerts were trialled last week, will see a series of event simulations take place at the 12,000-capacity Quarterback Immobilien Arena in Leipzig on 22 August.
The project is run by the University Medical Centre Halle (Saale) in conjunction with arena operator ZSL mbH and SC DHfK Leipzig handball team, with the aim of identifying a framework for how larger cultural and sports events could be held without posing a danger for the population after Germany’s ban on large-scale events expires.
Bendzko will perform at the arena to those who volunteer to take part in the simulations, in order to reproduce the behaviour of concertgoers as realistically as possible.
The simulations will replicate one event with 4,000 attendees, entering through two main entrances and sitting as prior to the pandemic; one with 4,000 participants with optimised hygiene measures, more entrances and larger distances between participants; and one with 2,000 attendees, who will be seated 1.5 metres apart.
German scientists are launching a series of concert simulations to investigate how to prevent Covid-19 from spreading at large events
All participants will by tested for Covid-19 before taking part and masks and hand sanitisers will be used during the simulations.
Participants will wear a small contact-tracing device during the concert simulations which will transmit a signal every five seconds to record proximity with other individuals, as well as the duration and frequency of contact with others.
The ‘concertgoers’ will also be asked to use a fluorescent hand sanitiser on entry, allowing scientists to use UV lights after the events to identify surfaces where transmission is most likely to occur.
Public transport to and from the venue will also be simulated and tracked as part of the research.
“The coronavirus pandemic is paralysing the events industry,” says Saxony-Anhalt minister of economics and science Prof. Dr. Armin Willingmann.
“As long as infection threatens, neither large concerts and trade fairs, or sporting events can take place. That is why it is so important to find out what technical or organisational framework conditions can effectively minimise the risk of infection.
“With Restart-19 the University Medical Centre Halle is pioneering work for a new start of the events industry in Central Germany and beyond.”
More information about the experiment and how to take part is available here.
This article forms part of IQ’s Covid-19 resource centre – a knowledge hub of essential guidance and updating resources for uncertain times.
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