A dozen people were injured Saturday night (August 31) at the Kendall County Fair in Texas when the bleachers they were sitting on collapsed.
Hundreds of Kendall County, Texas, residents were in attendance at the annual Kendall County Labor Day Fair and Rodeo when disaster struck. White watching the rodeo around 9:15 p.m. Saturday, some of the stadium bleachers gave way, causing a panic as attendees scrambled to rescue those who had been injured.
Eight people were transported to local hospitals, while four others were treated at the scene for minor injuries. As of Monday morning, six of those hospitalized have been released. The two remaining victims are in stable condition and expected to recover.
April Cleghorn, one of those who witnessed the incident, recalled the frightening moment to local media, saying: “They were doing the bronco ride. And one had just stopped, and so the other one was about to come out, and then you hear this loud bang, and it was still, like the whole top just kind of went, collapsed.”
Photos taken by other attendees show dozens of men under the bleachers, raising the beams to free those who had fallen.
“A lot of the men just ran underneath the bleachers. Probably good 30 to 35 men are just up there, all just holding the bleachers up until first responders come,” said Cleghorn. “Considering how crazy and fast it happened, everybody was very calm and collected, and they just knew exactly what they had to do to keep it up.”
The rodeo events scheduled for Sunday were canceled as officials investigated the cause of the bleacher collapse.
Country singer Coffey Anderson had his set cut short following the incident.
Coffey Anderson was performing at the fair when the bleachers collapsed. The singer took to Instagram to ask for prayer for those affected and shared that he led a prayer for the victims before he “packed up.”
“Kendall county fair and rodeo [sic] had the stands at the arena collapsed injuring multiple people tonight. Our show was cut short by the authorities. I led a prayer for the victims and their families and we packed up. Eerie and sad at the same time,” Anderson wrote. “Pray for Kendall County residents. 😔
The sound of chaos and people hurt is pretty scary.”
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See footage from the Kendall County Fair bleacher collapse below.