The Airborne Toxic Event Forum

1. 

   fedeberckx
   

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   Posted 9 months ago #
   

   I do not know how many people on this forum are from Belgium or do festivals abroad, but I have been to PKP 3 times and this one was a nightmare. For people who do not know what happened, I'll try to describe what happened.

   Pukkelpop is one of the largest Belgian festivals, which has 7 stages and about 60.000 people can come every day. It lasts 3 days, but there is a party for those who have a combi ticket the day before as a sort of 'kick-off'. Before I left the weather forcasts said there would be rain and storm, but I seriously don't believe anyone was expecting this.
   It started with some rain during Skunk Anansies show, and I among others left to go and grap a sweater and decent shoes on the camping. When I came back it was heavier, and I found shelter in the Marquee stage, one of the two that survived entirely. Only a couple of seconds later the rain was worse and I got deeper into the tent to find my friends who I was suppose to meet there.
   I am not sure what happened first: they said that the performance of panic at the disco who would play at the moment the storm started was postponed or the tent that started shaking. A lot of people were kind of frighted and thought it was going to collapse, but fortunately it was all right. The storm itself lasted only 10 minutes and after that people were getting out of the marquee.
   I had no idea what had happened, so I continued to search my friends. I was alone, and thankfully a girl approached me to ask if I was alone. She and her friend had lost their friends too and had found two French people who had come only that day to see Foo Fighters. They said I should stick with them and I followed them outside. There I found out what had really happened:
   the stage across the Marquee had collapsed, and I learned later that it (thankfully because more people would have been hurt if it didn't) split in two. The gates that separated the festival area into two (only so people don't use the entire area with the opening party) were ruined and I thought everyone on my side was trapped from the exit. The was water and mud everywhere. I left my shoes, and walk around for at least 4 hours on my bare feet, sinking over my ankles into the mud. I had no idea what had happened.
   Luckely every one I knew was okay, and the people who had approached their friends were fine too. After hearing the news and stories from friends, strangers and official news channels, this is what happened too.
   As I said one tent (Chateau) had split in two. The Wablief! was blown away. The screen at the Club had fallen down. At the main stage several things were blown away or fallen down too. Including Skin who was performing (as Skunk Anansie). I still have no idea what has happened to the Boiler and the Dance hall, but they were damaged as well.
   I am really glad that, even though it is cruel to say, only 5 people were killed, 8-10 were seriously injured and about 60-70 were lightly injured, which is not so much if there were 60.000 people were there.
   Also there has been a lot of commentary of people on what happened and the organisation. Like how it was difficult to call or send texts, but I was like: what do you expect if there are so many people who are being called or try to call each other and people close to them. Also about an hour before (or half an hour as some people say) it happened, the storm was in Brussels (about 50km away). But how could they have closed down the festival area in such a short time without panic or more people injured? I got sunburned that same day. No one was expecting this and I think that they handled it the best way they could.

   I have been reading that the entire summer festivals have suffered nightmares. Has anyone followed this? Or, hopefully not, was anyone there? Please talk about this if you have, because it is the best way to deal with it.

   Canadian story cover about Pukkelpop:
   http://www.canada.com/entertainment/least+three+dead+hurt+stage+collapse+Belgium+festival/5274139/story.html
   More can be found, in Dutch mostly, if you want to see videos or pictures anywhere on the web.
   This video has combined most footage. First minute or so it talking, the rest speaks for itself.
   http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/mediatheek/programmas/terzake/2.17109/2.17110/1.1091161

2. 

   EV0L L0V3
   

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   Posted 9 months ago #
   

   Wow! I've heard of shows ending in chaos but I have never experienced it myself. Usually when musical festivals take a turn for the worst it's because the crowd begins to riot and tear the festival grounds apart. I'm glad you made it out ok.

3. 

   Fant
   

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   Posted 9 months ago #
   

   Yeah, it was all over the news here in Holland...

   It's a bit of a scary thought. I told myself I'd buy a ticket when I graduated, as a kind of reward for myself(line-up was fucking brilliant!). But one day before I got the good news the festival was sold out. I was extremely pissed off at the time, but now I'm pretty damn glad I couldn't get a ticket... If course it's a worst case scenario, but I could've been dead by now... Which is a scary thought.

   My thoughts go out to all the people who died or got injured and their friends and families. Terrible to see it turn out like that.

4. 

   Intoxicar
   

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   Posted 9 months ago #
   

   I'm glad you're alright!!
   This is really horrible. People only tried to have a good time and were killed by this accident.
   Last year there was an accident at the "Loveparade" in Germany. 21 people died because the exits weren't sufficent.

5. 

   fedeberckx
   

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   Posted 9 months ago #
   

   @Fant: I know how you feel. I don't want to think about it what would have happened if I had tried to find shelter somewhere else. But, strangely I am glad I was there. Not after 6pm, but the rest of the day was really good and there was such a good atmosphere there. Bummed out though that I missed Noah and The Whale, which makes me feel more confused about how I feel. There is also a bit of guild when I put the happy pictures of what happened before the storm on Facebook. I was like: "should I do this? Am I being disrespectfull?"

   @Intoxicar:I heard about Loveparade too, and I'm glad PKP didn't turn out like that. From what I heard from people who really needed to use the emergency exits, they were turned open immediately and were thankfully sufficient. Yes, it is really horrible when people die while trying to have a good time. :(

6. 

   mynameishiro
   

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   Posted 9 months ago #
   

   I was also at Pukkelpop, and in the Marquee tent waiting for Panic! At the Disco to start. As the OP stated, it was really hot throughout the day beforehand, and I had heard there was meant to be rain during the first night.

   While watching the previous band in the marquee (Explosions in the Sky - incredible, but I didn't expect any less), it suddenly got very very grey and windier. Then I wandered off to get food and it started to rain lightly, and when I went back inside it got heavier and heavier. Panic were meant to come on at 18h25, and at 18h15 the techs had finished and had just wandered off when suddenly there was a huge gust of wind that came through and blew the backdrop up, and that is when people started to walk onto the stage to get a better view. Then the wind really picked up, and I mean really... The whole tent was shaking, the lights swaying. I had seen the videos of the stage collapsing at the Indiana state fair in America last week, and when I looked around and saw the roof was mostly metal beams, I knew I had to get out there and fast, just incase the worst happened.

   Just as I ran outside though, it started hailing, and it was the worst I've ever seen. Afterwards I was doubting my own stories when I was saying to people they were the size of tennis balls, as I thought that perhaps I was making it sound worse, as I was naturally in a state of panic. But I have heard lots of other people to confirm this. I ran out, and was surprised to see that people had climbed into all of the booths, the food and merchandise ones. I ran to a pizza stand, and people there had been given pizza trays to hold over their heads, and thankfully a nice man next to me gave me a plastic sheet to hold over my head, as the pain was unbearable. I think I have a high pain threshold, but this was insane.

   It did then stop to hail (I'm not sure how long after), so I went back into the tent as the winds had lowered. Then someone came onto the stage to say that P!ATD wouldn't be coming out, and that basically we all had to leave, for them to check the site out. On my way out, as stated, I saw (and we also had to climb through) the scaffolding that had fallen down, trees had been hit and fallen into booths, and the tent had collapsed.

   I was actually there on my own, and I didn't know how fast news would travel, so I had to get back to my tent to text my parents to let them know that firstly I was ok, and secondly I wanted to come home. I mean I am 25, and been through a lot of stuff before, but I had never been so scared in my life as I was at that time. But then the sheer number of people calling, or trying to call, bought down the networks there. It took me a whole 45 minutes to managed to get just one text to them.

   Eventually I did pack up and leave and had to walk a fair distance to the train station where I met my parents. It was a strange situation to be leaving under, and a day full of emotions from all ranges, and one that I hope I never have to experience or hear about again...

   I must give credit to the people who run the festival though, they were outstanding in keeping a presence, dealing with the absolute chaos calmly and making sure that the public also were well informed. I wouldn't expect anything less from a Belgian festival though.

   Alright, so that's some first post. My name is Michael by the way. I'm finally getting to see Airborne in Sheffield in November. Could not be more excited.

7. 

   LUC
   

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   Posted 9 months ago #
   

   I also had tickets for Thursday. Normally we would have been there early afternoon, but due to too much work at the office, we arrived there at 7 PM, just after the storm had struck. Trees were down or had broken as they were tiny matchsticks, tents were all over the place, lots of people walked around in a sort of shock. It took us 3 hours to get in touch with friends who where on the festival site. Happily they were all unharmed. After it became clear that there were fatalities, it was obvious that Pukkelpop would be cancelled. A wise decision of the organisation, which did a great job together with police, ambulances, firemen etc. Ok, i didn't see the Foo Fighters, but that's nothing compared to the loss of lives and the many many injured. Next concert for me will be TATE in Brussels, Belgium. Counting the days...

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