Local women survive concert tragedy

IONIA, Mich. (WOOD) - The concert-turned-tragedy at the Indiana Fairground Saturday night drew tens of thousands of people from all over the midwest, including some from here in West Michigan.

24 Hour News 8 learned late Sunday afternoon one of those injured is from Grand Rapids.

Amy Lodenstein, a nurse manager at Spectrum Health's Blodgett Campus was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, according to her mother.

"She was right near the near the stage" says Jan Lodenstein.

She says she plans to travel to Indianapolis Monday to bring her daughter back to Grand Rapids.

Gina Cegelis and Betsy Alderink were also witnesses to the tragedy.

We caught up with the Ionia County friends and Sugarland fans as they returned to West Michigan.

They bought the tickets for Alderink's birthday. The seats were located about 20 rows behind the area known as the Sugar Pit, a VIP area just in front of the stage.

Cegelis says one minute, the skies were sunny and the next, there was was a stage announcement, warning rain was on the way and fans they might delay the concert.

"All of the sudden, it was just a huge cloud of just, like a mini tornado, just come barreling down the track. And that's when everybody just kind of looked at each other and was like, let's go, it's time to take cover now." says Cegelis.

Worried they might be trampled if they tried to exit through the grandstand, Cegelis and Alderink headed for a fence they'd planned to climb.

"And that's when we heard all these screams and we turned around to look and that's when the whole stage was just collapsing. You could just see the people almost just being sucked in, underneath that stage." says Cegelis.

"And then the most sobering moment for me was when we ran back to see what we could do -- the stage is down and all these people and it was so quiet -- you would expect to hear screams of help me help me, but it was so quiet. Just a really eerie quiet."

Both Cegelis and Aderlink described people running to the stage, trying to lift collapsed portions off trapped victims, as they began moving chairs and other items to clear a path for rescuers.

It was just about at that time they noticed just how fortunate their decision was to get up and run when they did.

Remember the great seats they had?

"When the stage collapsed, the stage was two rows in front of us," Cegelis said.

Both Gina and Betsy says they've heard alot of the debate over whether the crowd should have been evacuated sooner.

They call it second-guessing

Both says the storm came up so quick, they're not sure anything could have been done to prevent the tragedy.