Tragedy at Pukkelpop as stage collapses

News agencies are reporting that tragedy has struck the 2011 PUKKELPOP FEST set to take place 8/18th,19th, 20th, 2011 at Kiewit site near Hasselt, Belgium. A stage collapsed killing five and injuring 17.
FROM PUKKELPOP PROMOTERS:
Pukkelpop is in deep mourning. We truly sympathise with the families and friends of the victims.

Words are not enough. We have struggled with the decision to continue the festival. Therefore we have decided to cancel Pukkelpop 2011.

What has happened is very exceptional and could not have been predicted. We are deeply moved by...
The Pukkelpop organisation has decided to cancel all shows tonight out of respect for the victims. We want to make our hearts and our minds silent for the festival goers that we lost and the ones that were injured. On this page you can pay your repsects...
FROM CNN.COM:
(CNN) -- One of Europe's largest outdoor music festivals was canceled after a stage collapsed during a violent storm in Belgium, killing five people and wounding 50 others, organizers said.
Belgian authorities confirmed Friday that the death toll has gone up.
"A fifth person has died," Andy Payne, spokesman for the nation's crisis center, told CNN. He said he did not know the circumstances surrounding the death.
The storm struck Thursday just hours after Pukkelpop kicked off. The scheduled three-day event was in Hasselt, east of Brussels.
Strong winds ripped up trees and smashed them into one of the festival's eight stages, Belga national press agency reported.
Belgian authorities are investigating the stage collapse, which struck those who had gathered to watch the Smith Westerns perform, Belga reported.
"Pukkelpop is in deep mourning. We truly sympathize with the families and friends of the victims," said a statement posted by organizers on the festival website.
"Words are not enough. We have struggled with the decision to continue the festival. Therefore we have decided to cancel Pukkelpop 2011."
More than 60,000 people were expected to attend Pukkelpop, which was to feature music by the Foo Fighters, 30 Seconds to Mars and Eminem, organizers said.
"We call on all Pukkelpoppers to return home calmly," the statement said.
Organizers said they were providing additional buses and train service to get festival-goers home.
"We ask everyone to understand that this decision was extremely difficult to make," the statement said.
Jared Leto, lead singer of 30 Seconds to Mars, was preparing to take the stage when the storm struck.
"Four stages down -- still raining + thunder," Leto tweeted. "If you are here, please be safe."
An hour later, he tweeted "serious injuries at the festival."
The Foo Fighters, who were set to headline the festival on the main stage Thursday, tweeted: "Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the tragic events."
Event organizers reached by telephone declined a CNN request for comment, saying they would reserve their comments for a scheduled news conference.
The Belgium incident follows one a week earlier in the United States, when a storm caused a stage to collapse at the Indiana State Fair. Five people were killed and 40 wounded in the accident that occurred just before the country music duo Sugarland was to take the stage.
In early August, severe weather caused a stage to collapse just before a Flaming Lips performance in Oklahoma.
A month earlier, a severe storm toppled a stage while rock band Cheap Trick was performing at the Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest in Canada. No serious injuries were reported in that incident.

FROM ARTISAN NEWS SERVICE:

Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-RIP to all whom perished in this tragedy-\m/ -l-