A burnt-out gondola of the Ferris wheel after a fire broke out on the Ferris wheel at the Highfield Festival near Leipzig, Germany, Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
LEIPZIG, Germany: More than 30 people were injured after a ferris wheel at Highfield Festival near the eastern German city of Leipzig caught fire on Saturday (Aug 17), police said.
According to initial findings, all victims suffered from smoke inhalation after two of the wheel's gondolas caught fire, a police spokeswoman told dpa.
The head of operations of the German Red Cross, however, said two people were also seriously injured. The police spokeswoman was initially unable to comment on this information. She did say that four police officers were among the injured.
The cause of the fire remained unclear on Saturday evening. Initially, one of the gondolas of the ferris wheel caught fire at around 9pm (1900 GMT). The fire then spread to the second gondola. Both were completely destroyed by the fire, according to a dpa reporter at the scene.
A festival goer from Cologne said that the ferris wheel suddenly sped up. The burning gondolas were at the very top of the wheel.
German rapper Ski Aggu was performing when the fire broke out.
"I'm absolutely shocked and upset about the ferris wheel fire during my show at Highfield," the 26-year-old rapper said on Instagram.
"I was only told through my earpiece that I should not stop the show under any circumstances, instead I was advised to continue talking to avoid mass panic.
"The priority was to prevent the situation from escalating any further. Fortunately, that worked," he said.
A fire service spokesperson told the dpa that the situation was brought under control around 30 minutes after the fire broke out.
The music festival at Lake Störmthal was set to be headlined by Macklemore on Sunday. – Bernama/dpa
A Ferris wheel caught fire at Leipzig's Highfield Festival, resulting in more than 30 injuries, including two serious cases. https://t.co/AKTC42D1Yi pic.twitter.com/13VzmejAvs
— DW News (@dwnews) August 18, 2024
