Three people were taken to hospital after parts of the spectator stands collapsed during a Trooping the Colour rehearsal in London. London Ambulance Service (LAS) confirmed a total of five people were treated for injuries after the incident in Horse Guards Row at around 11am today (May 21).
Dozens had turned up to watch the spectacle, which is the Major General's review of the parade ahead of the full event for the Queen's Jubilee celebrations on on June 2. Witnesses said crowds were evacuated by the emergency services and the ceremony, which involves a parade by the Household Division and Horse Guards, was cut short.
A spokesperson for LAS said: "We sent a tactical response unit, an ambulance crew, two cycle responders and an incident response officer. We worked alongside St John Ambulance volunteers to treat five people at the scene.
"We took one patient to a major trauma centre as a priority. St John Ambulance took a second patient to a major trauma centre as a priority.
"We discharged three patients at the scene. We later arranged transport to hospital for one of these patients."
The Ministry of Defence has since confirmed that sections of the spectator stands collapsed. An Army spokesman said: "During the Major General's Review on Horse Guards Parade, two parts of the viewing stand unfortunately gave way, resulting in a small number of injuries.
"The emergency services were called to assist those who were injured and the remaining crowds were safely evacuated from the stands. Safety is our number one priority and we are urgently working with our partners and relevant organisations to understand what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again."
One witness described the situation as "chaos", reports the Daily Mirror. She said: "We were told to stand and heard a scream and then there was chaos in the section.
"Turned out part of it had collapsed and a woman had fallen through. The paramedics rushed in but started yelling 'we can't find her'.
"She was extracted after several minutes and seemed fine but badly shaken and was put on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance. The crowd was calm but was later moved out of that section.
"Then a second section had a similar collapse and the crowd was moved but with no one falling through. The striking thing was that there seemed to be complete confusion with police about what to do and where to find the victim under the bleachers.
"But the medics did the best they could with no guidance."
