URGENCH, Uzbekistan — Although the exact number of fatalities of concert attendees remains unconfirmed by official Uzbek government sources, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported that at least 15 people were killed and 17 hospitalized when the railing on a narrow bridge, overcrowded with concert attendees, collapsed on Aug. 8.
Citing local sources, the RFE/RL report noted that many of the victims were children who were standing on the bridge to listen to the concert featuring singer Navruz Sobirov. The report also noted that while official government sourced confirmed an unspecified number of fatalities, the total number of casualties was not disclosed.
The RFE/RL report also noted that Ulugbek Sobirov, director of the Eighth television channel in Urgench, who organized the concert, is under investigation, and that Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev, who is leading a government commission formed to investigate the accident, has visited the site.
The narrow bridge, which spans a lake in the park where the concert was held, is lined on both sides by a railing structure. A section of the railing on one side of the bridge reached a breaking point as more fans tried to get on the bridge, or were pushed onto it, as some reports suggest.
The 15-acre city lake and park complex in Urgench where the accident took place is called Youth Lake. Ulugbek Sobirov, the concert organizer under investigation, is not related to Navruz Sobirov, the pop singer.
