Hong Kong authorities will investigate why a large and heavy video screen fell from the ceiling during a popular boy band concert at a government-run venue, leaving two dancers injured injured, officials said Friday.
The accident happened during a performance on Thursday night by Mirror, a 12-member band in the Chinese territory that has popularity has grown during the coronavirus pandemic.
In footage from the concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum, spectators scream after the video screen lands directly at a dancer, crouching, who appears to be smacking him in the neck. The South China Morning Post newspaper later reported that one of the two male dancers had suffered a neck injury and was in intensive care. It says the other is in stable condition.
Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, Hong Kong’s Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, told reporters on Friday that one of the display’s hanging cables had broken. Each screen for the venue’s quadruple projection system measures 5 meters by 3.9 meters, or 210 square feet, according to the Bureau of Cultural and Recreation Services, the arena’s governing body.
John LeeChief Executive Officer of Hong Kong, said in a statement earlier Friday that he had asked the entertainment department and other agencies to investigate the crash and “review the safety requirements of similar performances.”
Mr. Lee said: “I am very shocked by the incident. “I express my sympathies to those injured and hope that they recover soon.”
Hong Kong Government said in a separate statement that the government had contacted concert organizers on Wednesday – the day before the accident – about “theatrical problems of the past few days”. It was not detailed and entertainment could not be immediately reached for comment.
On Tuesday, a member of Mirror, Frankie Chan Sui-fai, fell off the stage at the Hong Kong Coliseum on the second day of the band’s 12-day concert series, The South China Morning Post reported. He fell about a meter and was not seriously injured, according to reports.
Makerville, the concert organiser, apologized for Thursday night’s accident in an Instagram post early Friday, adding that Mirror’s remaining concerts at the venue would be cancelled. The band’s management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mirror, which draws influence from K-pop, was formed in 2018 through a reality show designed to produce a hit boy band. Members of the group sang in Cantonese, a Chinese language widely spoken in the former British colony.
The band’s escapist lyrics are a comfort to those worried during a tumultuous time in Hong Kong’s history.
In 2019, the city was consumed by months mass protest triggered by a proposed law that would allow extraditions to mainland China. Then, a series of pandemic-related restrictions have Hong Kong’s economy is batteredas well as a national security law scan restricted freedom with breathtaking speed.
Mirror’s popularity skyrocketed as Hong Kong struggled. The band has sold out concert halls, occupying some of the city’s only large-scale events during the pandemic. The members’ faces have been plastered on billboards, buses, and subways.
The arena where the Mirror performed on Thursdays opened in 1983, according to the entertainment department website. The website says it has a capacity of about 12,500 people and fills a local need for a “world-class indoor stadium”.
Zixu Wang contribution report.
