The army and police evacuated the stands
Two viewing stands for spectators watching the Trooping the Colour in Central London collapsed today (May 21). Five people were injured in the collapse with one woman reportedly falling through the gap in the stand after it collapsed.
A crowd of people turned up for the event which is being reviewed by The Major General. The event consists of 1,450 soldiers of the Household Division and The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery. Fire engines, police and ambulance crews from St John's Ambulance and London Ambulance Service are on the scene.
An evacuation had to be carried out by the army and police with one witness describing the situation as chaos. The witness told the Mirror: "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."
Three people were taken to hospital, while a further two women were treated at the scene for what are suspected to be minor injuries.
A spokesperson for the army 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.”
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There will be no further updates but you can read about what happened in the blog below.
One witness 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 London Ambulance Service initially said two people had been taken to hospital following the collapse of two stands.
However, they have now updated this to say that a total of three people were taken to hospital.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: "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 army has revealed that two parts of the stands collapsed, leading to two people being hospitalised.
Shortly before 11am one of the stands suffered partial structural failure resulting in injury to three people. One of these people has been taken to hospital, the two other people sustained minor injuries.
A short time later, two other people sustained injuries as a result of falls in a separate stand in Horse Guards Parade. One of these people has been taken to hospital; the other person sustained minor injuries.
An Army spokesperson 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.”
Trooping the Colpur is a parade held to celebrate the Queen's birthday, it has been held for 260 years.
It see's a number of figures, including the Queen, inspect the Guardsmen. At today's event the troops were reviewed by The Major General. Up to 1,450 soldiers of the Household Division and The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, along with up to 400 musicians from the Massed Bands, took part in the parade on Horse Guards for the first of two formal Reviews.
Next weekend Prince William will attend the event, before the Queen oversees the main event as part of the Jubilee bank holiday weekend.
Ted Gibson, an 8-year-old guard-fanatic, also fell through the collapsed stand.
Ted fell through the gap in the stand as he and his grandparents made their way along an aisle. Despite a fall estimated to be between 6-8 feet, he was uninjured.
His mother, Clair Watts, said of the incident: "We are very, very lucky and fortunate Ted wasn't seriously injured.
"Ted is absolutely obsessed with the guards and has been since he was a toddler. He was meant to go to this event in 2020 and 2021 but it was cancelled because of Covid so he was very excited to go today.
"His grandmother phoned me on the way home to say something had happened. It could have been been absolutely horrendous but thankfully he is ok, other than an injured knee.
"I realise a lady was hurt, which was very sad, but we are thankful it wasn't more serious."
One witness 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."
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: "We were called at 10:59am today (May 21) to reports of an incident on Horse Guards Road, SW1.
"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."
An area has now been taped which includes two stands.
People attending the parade said the proceedings were cut short an evacuation was carried out after the collapse.
The stand collapse took place at the Trooping the Colour parade.
Today's event, Trooping the Colour reviewed by The Major General, is identical to Trooping the Colour reviewed by the Queen, with the exception that it excludes the Guardsmen Street Lining on the Mall and some additional mounted officers ride when the The Queen is present.
Up to 1,450 soldiers of the Household Division and The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, along with up to 400 musicians from the Massed Bands, took part in the parade on Horse Guards for the first of two formal Reviews.
The soldiers were inspected by Major General Christopher Ghika CBE, Major General Commanding the Household Division.
Next weekend Prince William will attend the event, before the Queen oversees the main event as part of the Jubilee bank holiday weekend.
Told MyLondon: “We are supporting the emergency services following an incident on the Horse Guards parade square. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade said the army and police carried out the evacuation of the stand after the collapse.
Both the London Ambulance Service (LAS) and St John's Ambulance were quickly at the scene.
LAS treated two women for minor injuries at the scene and took another women to hospital.
The St John's Ambulance took a man to hospital.
Three women and one man were injured during a scaffolding collapse at the Trooping the Colour rehersal, a spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade said.
One woman was taken to hospital while two others were treated at the scene for what are suspected to be minor injuries. A man was also taken to hospital by the St John Ambulance service.
Following the collapse, the Met and Army carried out an evacuation of the stand.
The London Fire Brigade are on standby at the scene to help with the scaffolding.
Witness Zoe Clark-Coates said: "What we just witnessed was terrifying, but we are safe!
"Part of the floor in the stand collapsed, and at least one person fell through. We are praying for the injured and shocked.
"The stands are being evacuated."
Music continued to play as emergency services worked at the scene following an incident in the stands.
Part of the stand has been taped off by police, as shown in the photo below.
Here are the first photos from the incident which has been described as "chaos".
One witness 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."