Rolling Stone: At least 16 South Korean music fans plummeted more than 65 feet to their deaths at an outdoor K-pop concert by the group 4Minute on Friday when a ventilation grate collapsed. The grate, which the victims had been standing on, had covered a concrete shaft that led to an underground garage. Eleven others were seriously injured in the accident, according to The Associated Press, which cites information from an official in Seongnam, a city to the south of Seoul. The BBC reports that the number of those killed and injured by the collapse could rise as investigations continue.
13 comments:
This event is incredibly scary and sad example of what happens when there are not proper signs and lock out procedures. My heart goes out to the families. I wonder how hard it was for people to get to the top of the grate. Were there signs and obstacles that were just ignored or was there no way of really knowing if the 10 foot high surface was not somewhere that should be stood on. I wonder if this tragedy will result in more regulations overseas and not just in Korea. Also I would think that people at the venue would consider no surface safe of people climbing and jumping on it. I wonder if that was considered. It seemed from the article that there was no way of knowing that the grate would cave in, but was it supposed to hold the weight in the first place?
This horrible! What shocks me even more than the event itself is that it took so long for the band to realize that there had been such an accident at their concert. I hope more regulations about spaces get put into place to prevent such incidents from happening again. I feel like someone should have noticed that the grate wasn't a stable or weight supporting surface much earlier to the tragedy. I sincerely hope that this wrong is righted in not only an immediate way, but in a long-lasting way that will keep people safe in the future from completely avoidable accidents.
obviously there is a difficulty in the early stages of this investigation that people are publishing articles without all of the information. My first takes from this article is a couple of points; first is why were people standing on this grate. As the article states it was elevated and likely people climbed onto it for a better view. My next question is then why wasnt there a better security detail be it better barriers or actual security personnel watching to make sure that people wouldn't climb ontop of this grate. Both to prevent an excessive load but also to make sure that the incident was handled appropriately. Concert attendees recalling that the concert continued for almost 5 minutes without a real response to the incident is unacceptable. Again there is only so much information actually available at this time so only so many opinions can actually be made about the incident.
This is horrible! I can understand the band not noticing immediately, but what about everybody else around them? I thought there were rules and regulations to help prevent this. I understand that people don't always like more oversight, but in this case it could have saved a number of lives, assuming the regulations are followed. I agree with Sean, why wasn't there anything in place to make sure this didn't happen. I'm still unclear as to what this grate was for and where it was located. We need more details to form a better picture.
This is terrifying. Just like what Simone said, there should have been signs or a blockade to prevent people from going on the grates. The worst part is that even if there was a sign, you know that wouldn't have stopped people from climbing up there. But this should have been thought about before the concert. They should have had someone standing by at least to stop the people climbing. I checked out 4Minutes because I wanted to see what kind of band they were (I used to be a K-pop fan... yeah... that happened) and their concerts tend to be the ones where a bunch of teenagers are jumping around. It's kind of like how the 13 year old girls are at a Justin Bieber Concert but with older people. This never should have happened and the fact that the concert had continued and that the band wasn't told to stop is unacceptable. More people could have gotten hurt and they probably did. I hope that this is a lesson for everyone and that such an incident that could have easily been prevented never happens again.
This is certainly a terrifying event and one that speaks to the common sense of both performers and patrons. Understanding that in the heat of the moment and the rush to see the band the people acted both rashly and dangerously people need to pay more attention the the area around them in order to protect their own lives. That grate was obviously not put there so that people could climb on it and yet they proceeded to do it any way. In that same vein the venue owners and the performers need to be more aware of the space that they own/are entering into. Had that grate been inspected for weaknesses a head of time this may not have happened.
This is a terrible tragedy, but just as Sean has pointed out there is not enough confirmed information at this time to adequately assess the full scheme of this incident. From what I've been able to gather it seems apparent that the shortcomings for this concert (namely the grate collapse and the slow reaction time) spawned from a lack in management and overall preparation.
In terms of management the safety of the concert-goers could of been ensured if only there was a stage manager overlooking the scene and security available to kick the fans off the grate before the load got too heavy to bare. Additionally signs of caution or a taped off area around the grate might of been sufficient. A stage manager would of also helped control the situation better if there was one available to inform the musicians to stop playing so the crowd could clear out allowing for paramedics to easily arrive on scene. Unfortunately this wasn't the case and the band continued on for a whole four minutes unaware many of their fans had just plummeted to their deaths.
Similar to better management, more preparation before hand could have easily saved lives. Simply assessing hazards in the venue beforehand might have alerted the crew to structural damage on the grate, allowing them to section of that area. I think it's extremely important to assess hazards to the audience and performers in any performance space, but it is even more important to do so in a informal space that doesn't have to adhere to the same safety code as theaters and concert halls do. As a technician I think we often forget that we are usually around potentially hazardous machinery and structures that might seem normal and safe to us, but could be harmful to the less informed audience, especially when used improperly.
I think it's safe to say that better management and preparation could of reduced the technical pitfalls in this scenario and might have saved many lives.Like my old technical director once told me: ideally if you're doing everything right with alertness and preparation, the simple things you do could be saving someone from injury or death without you even knowing it. I believe better management and preparation in this case might have prevented the incident entirely and we wouldn't be hearing this story at all. No, this hindsight won't bring back the sixteen, maybe more, tragic deaths, but maybe it'll serve a purpose to save the next sixteen. Tragedy is simply tragedy unless we learn from it, so hopefully what this incident serves as, a lesson to be learned.
I really wish there were more information in this article. We don't know if there was any signage or if the audience was forewarned about the grate. Since the article reported that the grate was significantly higher than the audience standing space I have to believe that it wasn't intended to take the weight of several people during these types of events. I am not surprised that the band and crowd didn't notice, as concert decorum isn't really geared safety or spacial awareness, but I do think there should have been more facilitation by the crew and managers as these sort of crowded, high energy events can become very dangerous very quickly.
This really drives home the fact that we need to really evaluate the spaces events like these are held in. It sounds as though this concert was overcrowded and that those standing on the grate were looking for additional space/ a better view. I really have to wonder if all elements of this space were evaluated for their safety AND their accessibility. The fact that the band kept playing on unawares calls to mind tragedies like The Station nightclub fire in 2003, where the event simply was not compatible with the space, resulting in truly tragic loss of life.
There is so much news regarding lack of safety precaution in both theaters and concert venues as of late. I feel as though all elements of a concert venue should be evaluated prior to holding the event. If they knew it to be a popular band and be over-crowded in the space that they had chosen, they should have relocated or put up proper safety signs and precautions. This would have saved a lot of lives and injuries of those affected. As for the band not realizing the commotion that had occurred, I can understand it for a little while. With a giant crowd in front of you, lights in your face, amplifiers and sound equipment, and their own pressure to put on a good show, they have a lot going on already. My heart goes out to all of those affected by this accident and I hope proper safety precautions are used in the future to further prevent such heartbreaking acts from occuring.
Does it seem like there have been more entertainment accidents in the past few years? I’m not sure. Maybe we’ve just started paying attention.
It sounds from the article that the grate wasn’t intended to be stood on, that fans instead decided to climb up on their own.
Well, there’s a lot to be explored here. On one hand, sure the patrons shouldn’t have climbed up on the grate, but on the other hand the production should have anticipated that something like this would happen, but maybe the venue should have made it clear that the ventilation grates weren’t designed for that load. But maybe there’s an assumption that if you put a grate on something, it should support a reasonable load, designed for 100psf I’d think it wouldn’t fail, from the description of the grate.
This is a really sad incident, and it’s terrible that it’s happened, and this isn’t going to be the last time something like this happens. There’s no good answer here, and there’s no good place to put the blame, and unfortunately, regardless of who’s fault it is, it’s happened and people died.
Dang. How big was that ventilation shaft to swallow 16 people at once?? Regardless, this is a classic example of the need for greater concert management, and security. I would like to believe the venue had previously identified this ventilation shaft as a potential safety hazard and would have roped it off or somehow marked it visually. At very least, management should have been aware enough to stop the concert immediately after the accident was identified. Five minutes before a response is unacceptable. That being said, I suppose these kinds of accidents make the news because everything went wrong, not right. I guess we never get to acknowledge all the venue and band managers who aren't total idiots.
This is actually not a surprise to me, personally. You can't imagine how CRAZY the fans of Korean pop bands are, they are CRAZY... Like..... I am horrifying every time I was nearby any places that Korean band was nearby, they were waves of ocean of fans running, pushing, screaming, and follow them around like ants. They never aware of how dangerous situation they are in by doing so. This is sad and unfortunate,but this is a kind of situation that that happened , something like this happened before, and still haven't got much of improvement. I don't know if the concert organizer would find any solutions to improve the safety or find venues that are "As Safe As Possible", because these fans would do anything in the world just to be a little bit closer to the band (and 4 minute is pretty sexy though). My point here for this article is not to blame the organizer, I would love the K-pop fans to think a little bit more and be aware more of their safety apart from crazily excited to see the artists in person.
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