Death toll at Belgian festival rises to 5

HASSELT, Belgium (AP)  The death toll from a fierce thunderstorm that mangled tents and downed trees and scaffolding at an open-air music festival in Belgium has risen to five, officials said Friday.

Hasselt Mayor Hilde Claes said that two more people died overnight. About 40 were injured, 11 of them seriously, she said.

Organizers canceled the annual Pukkelpop festival near Hasselt, 50 miles east of Brussels. Buses and trains were pressed into service to transfer the 60,000 festivalgoers home.

The brief but violent thunderstorm on Thursday evening tore down concert tents, several trees and main stage scaffolding. Panicked concertgoers ran through fields of mud looking for shelter.

"Pukkelpop is in deep mourning," festival organizer Chokri Mahassine said in a statement. "What has happened is very exceptional and could not have been predicted."

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and said the government would continue to provide assistance in caring for the injured.

The three-day festival's lineup features internationally known acts, including Foo Fighters, Eminem and The Offspring.

This was the second deadly incident at an outdoor festival in a week. On Saturday, parts of a stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis, killing five people and injuring dozens when winds of up to 60 miles per hour to 70 miles per hour hit the site.

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