UDON THANI, Thailand — The staging structure for a free concert held to raise awareness of human trafficking and slavery collapsed at 12:40 a.m. March 13. One of the 11 crew members injured by falling lighting and video structural elements later succumbed to his injuries. The worker who died was identified as Wichit Srichompoo, 35.
The concert, which had been set to take place March 15 at Vessuwan Stadium here, is part of the MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) concert series. Workers had been setting up lighting, video and sound gear on the 22-by-15-by-13-meter (WxDxH) stage when the accident occurred.
On their Facebook page, MTV EXIT Foundation noted that the concert would be postponed. “First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the deceased’s family and the injured crew members at this time, and with everyone affected by yesterday’s tragic accident which occurred during the stage installation phase carried out by our appointed staging vendor, AV Systems,” the foundation noted.
“MTV EXIT deems that this is not the appropriate time for the concert. Safety is of paramount importance to MTV EXIT and we will continue to take all necessary measures to ensure a safe environment for our crew, artists and for our fans,” MTV Exit Foundation concluded.
For more information, please visit www.mtvexit.org.
