HONG KONG — Two male dancers have been injured after a huge video screen crashed onto the stage during a concert by popular Hong Kong boy band Mirror.
More than a dozen performers were on stage at the Hong Kong Coliseum late Thursday night when the screen appeared to come loose from one of the two metal cords from which it was suspended. It landed directly on one dancer before falling backward onto another, eliciting screams from a crowd of thousands.
The concert was stopped and audience members were asked to leave.
A Hospital Authority spokesperson told NBC News that as of Friday morning, one of the dancers was in serious condition and one was in stable condition. She did not provide any details of their injuries.
Kevin Yeung, the Hong Kong secretary for culture, sports and tourism, said Friday that one of the metal cords had snapped, causing the screen to fall.
“We take this incident very seriously, because the safety of the performance stage is very important,” he told reporters.
Relatives of the injured dancers are returning to Hong Kong from overseas, Yeung said. Covid-19 restrictions in the Chinese territory require all travelers from overseas to complete seven days of hotel quarantine, although they are sometimes allowed to leave to visit loved ones in hospitals.
Yeung said the government would do its best to balance the needs of the dancers’ relatives with pandemic prevention measures.
He said a working group composed of experts and government personnel would investigate the accident and how to ensure the safety of future performances, with the investigation expected to take at least a few weeks.
Chris Sun, the secretary for labor and welfare, said his department would also thoroughly investigate the matter and take legal action if appropriate.
MakerVille, one of the concert organizers, apologized for the accident in a statement and said it was investigating. The eight remaining concerts in the 12-show series have been canceled and tickets will be refunded.
This was not the first accident to take place during the Mirror concert series, which began Monday. Band member Frankie Chan accidentally stepped off the edge of the stage on Tuesday night, The South China Morning Post reported. He fell about three feet and posted on social media later that he was bruised but otherwise fine.
Fans then started an online petition calling on concert organizers to “ensure the safety of all performers,” citing Chan’s fall along with other perceived safety issues. The petition had gathered more than 12,000 signatures before the accident on Thursday.
A Hong Kong government statement said the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which manages the Hong Kong Coliseum, and the Labor Department had contacted the concert organizer on Wednesday about the recent incidents and requested a safety review.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
