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Ferris wheel fire at German festival injures more than 20

More than 20 people were injured Saturday night after a Ferris wheel caught fire at a music festival near the German city of Leipzig, a police spokesperson told AFP.

Published: 18 August 2024 09:45 CEST
The flashing blue lights on a vehicle of the fire brigade - Feuerwehr.
The flashing blue lights on a vehicle of the fire brigade - Feuerwehr. Over 20 people have been in injured in a ferris wheel fire at a festival near Leipzig. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)

The fire broke out shortly after 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) on two gondolas at the Highfield Festival and was quickly brought under control.

Four people were burned, one injured in a fall and another 18 people suffered from smoke inhalation, the police spokesperson said.

Members of the police force and firefighters responding to the incident were also injured, he added.

Photos published by German media showed flames engulfing gondolas on the spinning Ferris wheel, with thick black smoke billowing above the ride.

Helicopters and fire crews quickly responded and all of the injured were transported to a nearby hospital, the spokesperson said.

The Highfield Festival, which bills itself as the largest independent rock festival, attracts thousands of visitors every summer to the shores of man-made Lake Stormthaler outside Leipzig.

This year’s lineup included Macklemore, The Kooks, Flogging Molly and Rise Against.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Disruption at Leipzig/Halle airport after climate protest

Cargo flight operations were suspended for several hours and there is some disruption to passenger traffic after climate activists launched a protest at Leipzig/Halle airport.

Published: 1 August 2024 09:29 CEST
Disruption at Leipzig/Halle airport after climate protest

Five people stuck themselves to the ground in the southern section of Saxony’s largest airport shortly after midnight, and two others were prevented from doing so, according to a spokesperson for the police.

Officers discovered holes in the fence at the edge of the site believed to have been made by the protesters. At around 5 am, the activists were released from the ground and removed from the tarmac. The ‘Last Generation’ group claimed responsibility for the disruption.

A view of Leipzig/Halle airport.

A view of Leipzig/Halle airport. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/Julius-Christian Schreiner | Julius-Christian Schreiner

According to an airport spokesperson, cargo flight operations had to be suspended for around three hours from around shortly after midnight, while passenger flight operations began with some delays on Thursday morning. 

A notice on the airport’s website said: “In the early morning of August 1st, several people illegally gained access to the security area at Leipzig/Halle Airport.

“Due to the resulting police action, flight operations were suspended from 12:24 am. The restrictions affected cargo traffic. Passenger flights do not take place at Leipzig/Halle Airport during this period due to a night flight restriction.

“Flight operations were resumed from 03:23. As a result of the police measures, there may be delays in the handling of passenger flights, which are scheduled to take off at 05:30.”

Some take-offs were hit with delays later in the morning. 

Leipzig/Halle Airport says it is the fourth largest hub for air freight in Europe, handling around 1.4 million tonnes of freight every year.

The ‘Last Generation’ group said they wanted to make a statement on the tarmac against the increase in air traffic, the planned expansion of airport capacity and the lack of a plan by the German government to rapidly phase out fossil fuels.

Posts by the group on the X social media platform stated that the blockade primarily affected cargo traffic. They included photos and videos on several posts with signs that said: ‘Oil kills’. One tweet said: “We demand the development and signing of an international fossil fuel phase-out treaty.”

The activists are now being investigated for unauthorised presence in the security area, trespassing and interfering with air traffic, said a spokesperson for the police.

Last week, climate demonstrators paralysed flight operations for several hours at both Frankfurt Airport and Cologne/Bonn Airport.

There was also a peaceful protest at Stuttgart Airport without any restrictions on air traffic.

As a result, several German airports say they will be taking extra security precautions.

READ ALSO: Why are Last Generation activists in Germany getting prison sentences?

With reporting by DPA

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