This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

More than a dozen people were injured after a stage filled with students collapsed during a musical performance at a central Indiana high school, authorities said.

Captain Charles Hollowell of the Westfield police department said authorities did not have an exact number of injuries but were certain more than 12 were hurt. At least one person was critically injured after the stage gave way on Thursday night at Westfield high school, he said.



Authorities say a large group of students was on the stage during the grand finale of the American Pie concert at Westfield high school when the floor of the stage collapsed into the orchestra pit below.

The Westfield Washington schools superintendent, Mark Keen, said the school was gathering records related to the stage for investigators to scrutinise. Keen says it appears that a cover that is placed over the orchestra pit for some productions gave way, causing the collapse.

Regularly scheduled classes will meet on Friday and Keen said faculty would come in early to work with students as they arrive.

Video supplied to the Associated Press by Zach Rader – who was in the audience – and consistent with the AP’s reporting shows more than a dozen students dancing and clapping on stage while a female student sings along to Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’.

Most students then suddenly plummet out of sight, the music cuts off and screams are heard.

Blake Rice, an 18-year-old senior at the school about 20 miles north of Indianapolis, said he was playing guitar in the performance, a tribute to 80s music.

As the last song began, Rice said he took a step back to allow more students on to the stage. He saw the stage collapse but did not fall through.

“At first, it didn’t seem real. It didn’t really register with me what happened,” Rice said.

Rice said people in the audience immediately ran toward the stage and began pulling debris off students. Auditorium staff pulled people out of the pit, he said.

“I realised how lucky I was,” Rice said. “Another three seconds and that could have been me.”

Westfield’s mayor, Andy Cook, said he visited some of the injured students at hospitals after the collapse.

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“I said, ‘You kids must have been really rocking,’” he recalled.

The incident evoked memories of a 2011 stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair that killed seven people and injured nearly 100. High winds toppled rigging and sent the stage roof on to fans awaiting the start of a concert by the country duo Sugarland.