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Brussels - Belgium's King Albert II has paid tribute to the five victims who died at Pukkelpop festival.
The king and his wife cut short their holiday after two huge stages at the Belgian festival collapsed due to an "unprecedented" storm, which uprooted trees and saw revellers hit with hail stones as large as tennis balls.
The royals have met with those injured in the disaster and their families.
The rest of the spectacle – which started on Friday and attracts 65 000 people – was called off.
Festival organiser Chokri Mahassine said in a statement: "Pukkelpop is in deep mourning."
Emergency planning measures
Mayor Claes said initial checks on emergency planning measures including "checking trees for their resistance to high winds, and testing the drainage system" left officials confident they had done everything that could be expected of them, given such freak conditions.
The incident comes after a very similar event in the United States. At the Indiana State Fair, winds brought down a stage set for Sugarland to play, killing five and injuring 45 others.
Pukkelpop was also hit by tragedy last year as two musicians died during the festival; The Call's Michael Been – who was playing with the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – suffered a heart attack and Ou Est Le Swimming Pool singer Charles Haddon jumped to his death from a mobile phone mast.
The king and his wife cut short their holiday after two huge stages at the Belgian festival collapsed due to an "unprecedented" storm, which uprooted trees and saw revellers hit with hail stones as large as tennis balls.
The royals have met with those injured in the disaster and their families.
The rest of the spectacle – which started on Friday and attracts 65 000 people – was called off.
Festival organiser Chokri Mahassine said in a statement: "Pukkelpop is in deep mourning."
Emergency planning measures
Mayor Claes said initial checks on emergency planning measures including "checking trees for their resistance to high winds, and testing the drainage system" left officials confident they had done everything that could be expected of them, given such freak conditions.
The incident comes after a very similar event in the United States. At the Indiana State Fair, winds brought down a stage set for Sugarland to play, killing five and injuring 45 others.
Pukkelpop was also hit by tragedy last year as two musicians died during the festival; The Call's Michael Been – who was playing with the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – suffered a heart attack and Ou Est Le Swimming Pool singer Charles Haddon jumped to his death from a mobile phone mast.
