Sections of the spectator stand collapsed, injuring five people during a rehearsal of Trooping the Color in central London.
Three people have been taken to hospital and a total of five have been treated for injuries following the Horse Guards Road incident on Saturday morning, the London Ambulance Service (LAS) said.
The event, which is the Major General’s review of the parade ahead of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations on June 2, saw dozens of spectators turn out to watch.
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However, shortly before 11 a.m., one of the stands gave way, injuring three people, one of whom was taken to hospital.
Shortly after, part of another stand collapsed and two more people were injured. One of them was taken to hospital.
Emergency authorities assisted the injured and evacuated the grandstand before the parade was halted and the entire area evacuated.
An Army spokesman said: ‘During the Major General’s review on Horse Guards Parade, two parts of the viewing stand unfortunately caved in resulting in a small number of injuries.
“Emergency services were called to assist the injured and others were safely removed from the stands.
“Safety is our number one priority and we are working urgently with our partners and relevant organizations to understand what happened and ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
LAS said three patients were treated and discharged at the scene, but transport to hospital was arranged for one of the patients later in the day.
A spokesperson said: ‘We were called at 10.59am to report an incident on Horse Guards Road, SW1.
“We sent a tactical response unit, an ambulance team, two bicycle responders and an incident response officer.
“We worked alongside St. John Ambulance volunteers to treat five people at the scene.
“We took a patient to a major trauma center as a priority.
“St. John Ambulance took a second patient to a major trauma center on a priority basis.
“We have discharged three patients to the scene. We then arranged transport to the hospital for one of these patients.
Household Cavalry troops during the Brigade Major’s Review at the Horse Guards Parade on Thursday. Photo: PA
Alex O’Grady, 34, from Bromley, told the PA news agency the incident was “surreal”, a “terrible situation” and “people were in tears at the scene”.
He said: “We heard a loud bang – we thought someone had fallen down the steps at the start, turned around to see a hole in the floor of the second row from the front of the grandstand HAS.”
Mr O’Grady said he saw a woman screaming over the hole at a man, whom he presumed to be her husband, but there was no response and paramedics quickly began treating the man .
He added: “There was also a young child who had a scrape on his knee, another man who was obviously worried and the woman was inconsolable.”
Another witness told the PA news agency: “There was a loud bang and then a scream and a voice shouting ‘help, help’.
“A number of ambulances were there and stretchers were brought out for the injured.”
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One Twitter user wrote: “It was a fun experience to watch until we stood up for the national anthem, the stand next to us collapsed with someone falling.
“They cut the procedure short and the police started to evacuate us for safety reasons because there had already been two collapses with the fear of more.
“It was certainly a very ‘British’ experience with us queuing for an hour to watch horses and soldiers parade.”
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Source: www.theargus.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-05-21 17:28:34
