At least 16 people are dead and nearly a dozen injured after the ventilation grate they were standing on collapsed at an outdoor pop concert in South Korea today, officials said.
The crowd had climbed up a steel grate to get a better view of the stage, and their weight caused the grate to collapse sending their bodies crashing 40 feet below, rescue authorities told.
Hundreds of people were gathered at the show in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, to watch 4Minute, a popular girls' band, perform as part of a local festival.
Video from a concert-goer that ran on South Korea's YTN television network shows the group continuing to dance for a short while after the crash, apparently unaware that the grate behind them had collapsed, according to The Associated Press.
Many of the concert-goers were female students, witnesses said.
The steel grate was 13 square feet. Eleven people were injured.
The injured were being treated at several hospitals near the venue.
South Korea has suffered a recent series of accidents involving young victims, including the Sewol ferry disaster in April that left more than 300 dead, most of them high school students.
In February, the roof caved in on a student-packed auditorium near the southern city of Gyeongju, killing 10 people and injuring more than 100. An investigation uncovered evidence of structural flaws and lax management controls.
The Sewol disaster prompted government promises of a national review of safety standards, as it became clear that poor regulatory oversight was a major contributor to the scale of the tragedy.
The last major accident at a music concert was in 2005 when 11 people were crushed to death and nearly 80 injured in a stampede as thousands tried to enter the stadium venue in the southeastern city of Sangju.
Friday 17 October 2014
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/16-killed-in-collapse-at/1421310.html
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