Sara Bareilles Issues Indiana State Fair Accident Statement
Singer Sara Bareilles has released a statement about the shocking stage collapse at the Indiana state fair this past weekend that left five people dead and dozens injured.
Bareilles, 31, was on stage to perform an opening act set for Sugarland prior to the stage collapse. She has said that the accident felt “like a bad dream.” Her statement about the accident continued:
“The weather changed in a matter of minutes and the stage collapsed in a matter of seconds. We are shocked and saddened by this horribly tragic circumstance and we are all praying for those affected.”
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Bareilles’s statement comes on the same day that a memorial service has been held for the victims of the accidental stage collapse.
Hundreds of mourners gathered this morning to pay tribute to those lost in the fluke accident.
The accident occurred over the weekend on Saturday night when sudden and huge gusts of winds toppled the main stage of the fairgrounds where thousands of people were waiting to see the country music act Sugarland.
The winds pushed in at 60 to 70 miles per hour and toppled the stage like a “straw hut.” People immediately rushed to get away from the scene, but the accident also saw many heroes that turned around and helped in the rescue effort.
Although rains had been forecast for the day, most argue that no one could have anticipated that the sudden and strong winds could have come in at such a strong sweep and toppled the stage.
However, one critic has come out and argued that the fatal accident could have been prevented. Mike Smith of AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions says his company issued a warning for 60 mile-an-hour winds at 8:23 pm.
Smith has said of the stage collapse "It was quite foreseeable. The state fair should have had someone making a call that if a weather warning was issued, the area would have been evacuated immediately."
An investigation has been launched into the collapse but could take weeks to determine what happened.
The Indiana state fair was closed yesterday but reopened today for the memorial. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels told CNN of the reopening, “Today will be about grieving for and with the victims and about starting the necessary process of repair to get the fair back under way.”
