Russia’s Aquamarine Music Festival Blinds Audience With Laser Lightshow
Thirty attendees of the Aquamarine Music Festival in Moscow, Russia were blinded by a powerful Laser lightshow. Russian news agencies reported that some people lost up to 80 percent of their vision after attending the event on July 5.
Twenty people are undergoing treatment in Moscow hospitals, said Elena Grishina, the head doctor at the Moscow Ophthalmological Hospital, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported Monday. “The treatment is not very pleasant. It involves a lot of needles,” Grishina said. “But all the patients are in optimistic spirits, and we are hoping for a good result.”
According to the reports, concertgoers said the festival’s dance floor was covered by a canopy because it was raining. The lasers were pointed horizontally under the tent instead of into the sky, which led to the injuries, the reports said.
“After five or ten minutes on the dance field, I couldn’t see anything,” a young man in sunglasses identified as a concertgoer said on NTV television. “I could see out of my left eye, but my right eye is all fog.”
The broadcast showed video from the festival recorded by cellular phones, one of which appeared to burn out when a laser shone on it. The festival was held in the Vladimir region east of Moscow, where promoters often hold open-air one-offs on large fields.
The injured concertgoers plan to take legal action against the festival’s organizers. A representative of the Vladimir regional government said the festival was organized illegally without proper permits. Most of the injured concertgoers sought treatment at two Moscow hospitals.
