Leipzig

Leipzig – Fire disaster at the Highfield Festival at Störmthaler Lake (near Leipzig)! At around 9:13 p.m. a fire broke out on the Ferris wheel on the festival grounds.

The flames first erupted from one gondola and then spread to a second one. A spokeswoman for the Leipzig police said: “There are four people injured by fire and one person with injuries from a fall.” 18 other people came into contact with smoke. Among the injured are first responders, including police officers.

According to the head of operations of the German Red Cross, two people are said to have been seriously injured.

The Ferris wheel was fully occupied when the fire broke out

Photo: private

According to BILD information, the people affected are now in hospital and are said to be doing well given the circumstances.

Fire broke out during Ski Aggu’s performance

The Ferris wheel was apparently full when the fire broke out. The German rapper Ski Aggu was on stage at the time. He saw the burning gondola during his performance and initially commented on the fire before he had to stop his show.

In his Instagram story, he wrote a short time later: “I am absolutely dismayed and shocked by the Ferris wheel fire during my show at Highfield. I was just told in no uncertain terms that I should not cancel the show under any circumstances, but should first stay in dialogue with you so that mass panic does not arise.”

The priority was to prevent the situation from escalating any further. Fortunately, that worked. “Thank you all for staying so calm and preventing anything worse from happening,” the rapper continued.

The fire spread from one gondola to a second

Foto: Rico THUMSER / foto-leipzig.de

The cause of the fire is still unclear. Dozens Fire brigades were deployed on site. The fire has now been extinguished.

An eyewitness told BILD: “The fire brigade arrived extremely quickly and certainly prevented a much larger catastrophe.”

Highfield continues

“The show must go on.” As the Highfield organizers announced at around 10 p.m., the festival will continue on Saturday evening. However, “Cro” will be playing on a different stage.

View from the Ferris wheel to the stage and the Störmthaler Lake

Photo: Sebastian Willnow/dpa

This year, the Highfield Festival is taking place for the 15th time at Störmthaler Lake. From 1998 to 2009, the Hohenfelden reservoir (south of Erfurt) was the venue for Central Germany’s largest music festival. Since 2010, it has taken place near Großpösna in the Leipzig district.

This year, 54 bands and solo artists from the areas of indie rock and hip hop, including Macklemore, Peter Fox and the Donots, will perform on three stages over three days. A total of around 30,000 music fans are expected by Sunday.

The burning gondolas were lowered. It is clearly visible that the other gondolas of the Ferris wheel are occupied

Photo: -/spm-group/dpa