An 18-year-old was fatally injured in an accident on a ride at a fair in Oberhausen. The young man wanted to collect the driving chips of a shop at the Sterkrader Corpus Christi fair on Sunday evening, as the city of Oberhausen announced.
He fell and suffered serious injuries from the moving ride. The son of a showman family died on the spot. In addition, 20 eyewitnesses suffered shock. As the “Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung” (WAZ) reported, the accident happened at the “Break Dance” ride.
According to the city, the scene of the accident was cordoned off, a screen was set up and the fair visitors were diverted. In coordination with the police and the showmen, the city allowed the fair to end prematurely. This was done “in view of the severity of the accident and out of sympathy for the relatives of the 18-year-old casualty,” it said. Even before the decision was made, music and “disruptive sound reinforcement” had been switched off
The police began investigating the cause of the accident at the scene. On Monday, the official last day of the fair, a decision should be made on how to proceed. Further details were not initially known.
The city’s head of public order, Michael Jehn, said after the accident: “Our thoughts are with the family of the young man for whom a happy day at the fair came to such an incredibly tragic end.”
The Sterkrader Corpus Christi fair started on June 7th and should last until Monday. According to the city, it is the largest and most popular folk festival in Oberhausen.
