30 injured after fire on Ferris wheel at festival near Leipzig

Two gondolas of the Ferris wheel were completely burned. Several people suffered smoke poisoning. The cause of the fire was initially unclear until the evening.

A Ferris wheel caught fire at the Highfeld Festival near Leipzig on Saturday. Two gondolas caught fire. According to police, more than 30 people were injured. A police spokeswoman told the German Press Agency (dpa) that according to initial findings, everyone suffered minor injuries due to the smoke. According to the head of operations at the German Red Cross, two people were also seriously injured.

The police spokeswoman was initially unable to comment on the information. She added that four police officers were among the wounded.

The cause of the fire remained unclear at first until the evening. First, one gondola of the Ferris wheel caught fire around 9 p.m. The fire then spread to the second gondola. Both were completely destroyed by the fire.

“So that there is no mass panic”

Festival visitor Guido from Cologne reported that the Ferris wheel suddenly moved faster. Then the burning gondola was at the top. “Then there was a deathly silence,” said the 58-year-old.

When the first flames appeared, rapper Ski Agu, 26, was on stage. He wrote on his Instagram story shortly after: “I am absolutely horrified and shocked by the ferris wheel fire during my show at Highfield. I have just been told that under no circumstances should I cancel the show, but I need to stay in dialogue with you first so there is no mass panic.

The priority was to ensure that the situation did not get worse. Fortunately, that worked too. “Thank you all for staying so calm and possibly preventing something worse from happening.” The work of the rescue workers, who responded quickly, was particularly crucial. “Thank you for your service!! Hope you feel better soon for everyone affected,” wrote the Berlin rapper, whose real name is August Jan Diederich and whose brand is a pair of ski goggles. Little by little, people were being taken off the Ferris wheel, those present reported.

The festival, which was attended by 30,000 visitors, was stopped.

The festival was then halted at Störmthaler See, a large rock and pop festival with around 30,000 visitors. About an hour after the fire broke out, at around 10 p.m., there was an announcement on stage to visitors that those affected were fine – and that the festival should continue with the Krue performance. And around 11 p.m. the program actually continued.

After the fire, festival-goer Ricky, who had come from the Harz mountains, was initially hesitant about whether the concerts should go ahead. The 27-year-old found the mood gloomy. But he praised the organisers for their approach: “There were clear announcements and we knew what had happened.”

Bastian, from Leipzig, also said rescue workers arrived quickly. The 33-year-old said he felt many visitors were now drawn to their tents, preferring to end the evening there to talk about what they had been through.

“plastic smell”

Stefanie, 40, from Werdau in Saxony, was particularly shocked. She said she had been on the Ferris wheel just minutes before the fire broke out. “We smelled plastic and thought it was coming from the campsite,” she said. When she saw the flames on the gondola, she couldn’t believe how close she had come to escaping. (APA/dpa)