LANCASTER, N.H. (AP) — A man and a
girl were killed and at least 22 people were injured Monday when a
severe storm blew down a circus tent in northern New Hampshire,
officials said.
State Fire
Marshal William Degnan said at a briefing late Monday that the injured
were taken to four regional hospitals. Their conditions were not
immediately known.
The accident happened around 5:30 p.m. as the
first of two scheduled shows was getting underway at the Lancaster
fairgrounds, about 90 miles north of the state capital in Concord.Degnan said Sarasota, Fla.-based Walker International Events was scheduled to do the shows Monday before moving on to Vermont on Tuesday.
About 100 people were in the tent when it collapsed, he said.
Degnan said the identities of the victims, both of whom were spectators, would not be released until their families were notified.
Walker International Events did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the area during the time of the collapse.
The
collapse comes a day after one man died and more than a dozen were
injured when a tent where people had sought shelter during a brief storm
blew off its moorings and fell on some of the crowd at a festival in a
Chicago suburb. The annual celebration known as the Prairie Fest had
attracted about 5,000 people when the tent collapsed.
The
popular Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago's Grant Park briefly
shut down Sunday afternoon due to the weather, then resumed less than an
hour later. Organizers ended the final day of the festival 30 minutes
early Sunday night when another storm hit the area.
___
This story has been corrected to show that authorities say 100 people were in the tent, not 250 as they'd said earlier.
It also has been corrected to show that a man was one of the two victims, not a young man as officials originally said.
Comments
Post a Comment