Festivalgoer Drowns After Rock in Vienna

Rock in Vienna takes place on the Donauinsel, a more than 20-km-long artificial island in the middle of Danube river. After the festival’s last performance June 5, the man and his girlfriend, both from Sweden, decided to take to the water near the Schnellbahnbrücke, one of the bridges connecting the island to the mainland.

At around 11:30 p.m. the girlfriend stopped four police officers to inform them that her boyfriend had suddenly gone under water and never resurfaced, according to Austria’s Kurier. Apparently he got caught in a whirlpool.

The report says that the officers jumped into the water fully clothed, not even bothering to shed their radios, and started reanimating the man. He later died in hospital.

“Our thoughts and compassion are with his relatives and friends,” a statement by DEAG’s Blue Moon Entertainment, promoter of Rock in Vienna, read. The woman said they had consumed alcohol, though at press time it was unclear whether that had anything to do with the accident.

Only hours earlier, a 19-year old man from Somalia also drowned in the same river, only a couple of hundred meters away. On that Sunday, Vienna experienced some heavy thunderstorms, which is why the event had to be interrupted during In Extremo’s set. It calmed down in time for headliners Iron Maiden to take the stage. Apart from getting soaked, nothing happened to the fans.