Police began questioning witnesses in Marseilles yesterday to discover why a stage for a Madonna concert collapsed, killing two workers, one a British man.
Charles Prow, 23, a technician from Leeds who was on Madonna’s concert team, died yesterday morning, hours after falling 50 feet as the steel set was being built for a show at the Vélodrome stadium.
A 53-year-old French worker, Charles Criscenzo, was killed and ten others were injured, including an American who was in a critical condition. The condition of two others was described as serious, and 36 people suffered minor injuries and shock.
Appearing in Udine, northern Italy, Madonna said that she was appalled by the incident. “Two men lost their lives, which is a great tragedy to me. I feel so devastated to be in any way associated with anyone’s suffering,” she said.
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Madonna at O2, London Madonna judges: 'every child has right to love' In Leeds, Mr Prow’s family mourned the loss of “a much loved son, grandson, brother, uncle and friend”. A representative said: “Charles was a happy-go-lucky guy with a big personality and he will be deeply missed.”
The concert in Marseilles, which was part of the singer’s world tour and scheduled to be attended by 40,000 fans on Sunday night, was cancelled and tickets will be refunded.
Xavier Darcos, the Labour Minister, expressed his regret at the accident and demanded that everything should be done to establish what happened. Police are to interview dozens of witnesses and study video and commercial contracts, with a view to possible charges of causing death unintentionally at a place of work. Prosecutors said that they would determine quickly whether stringent safety procedures had been applied during the construction.
The roof of the giant, Meccano-like stage became unbalanced as it was being lifted into place by four cranes, fire officials said. One of the cranes fell, crashing on to the 60-tonne structure below. Most of the victims were technicians working on the stage. Emergency workers described a battlefield-like scene, with victims scattered under the wreckage.
Post-mortem examinations were to be carried out on both the victims late last night and investigators were trying to determine whether the various subcontractors for Live Nation, the British-based company that is producing Madonna’s tour, had followed proper procedures.
