A violent storm killed five people at a Belgian rock festival and left three more fighting for life on Friday, as stunned organisers questioned what more they could have done to prevent the freak tragedy. Ten were seriously injured with three in critical condition, police said, after two giant stages collapsed, whole trees were uprooted and hailstones "the size of golf balls" rained down on petrified youngsters, witnesses said.
Organisers, who had raised "sold out" signs for crowds of 65,000 fans on each of the three days the event was due to run, promptly called a halt to planned performances by global names such as Eminem and the Foo Fighters. King Albert II and Queen Paola cut short their holidays, and were to pay tribute to the victims at the site on Friday evening - as a refugee-like exodus of muddied, confused teenagers traipsed away from the nightmare.
The storm "cost the lives of five people," Hasselt mayor Hilde Claes said, adding that all five were Belgian citizens, and that in total, 140 people had received medical treatment. Two of those in critical condition were Dutch citizens. Claes said initial checks on emergency planning measures, which staff told AFP included "checking trees for their resistance to high winds, and testing the drainage system," left officials confident they had done everything that could be expected of them given such freak conditions. Youngsters among the sorrow-stained figures beginning long journeys home after sleepless nights in rain-soaked tents said no blame could be attached to the authorities.
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