Young people screamed and fled in panic as a fierce thunderstorm shredded huge canvas tents and brought down metal scaffolding at an open-air festival in Belgium, killing five people. Hasselt Mayor Hilde Claes said Friday that two more people had died, bringing the toll from Thursday night's disaster to five. About 140 were injured in the storm, 10 of them seriously, she said. All the dead were Belgians.
Organizers canceled the annual Pukkelpop festival near Hasselt, 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Brussels and sent the 60,000 festival goers home Friday in fleets of buses and trains. The brief, violent thunderstorm toppled the poles of several concert tents and left them in tatters, flapping in the wind. It also downed several trees and the scaffolding for the main stage, where rows of concert lights swung wildly before crashing down.
Organizers canceled the annual Pukkelpop festival near Hasselt, 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Brussels and sent the 60,000 festival goers home Friday in fleets of buses and trains. The brief, violent thunderstorm toppled the poles of several concert tents and left them in tatters, flapping in the wind. It also downed several trees and the scaffolding for the main stage, where rows of concert lights swung wildly before crashing down.
