Sugarland Fan Describes Watching Indiana State Fair Stage Fall Down Around Her

As friends and family members mourn the five people killed during Saturday night's tragedy at the Indiana State Fair, survivors are beginning to share their stories. A caller named Ashley tells WYCD in Detroit, Mich. that she narrowly escaped injury, but two of her friends were not so fortunate.

"I had somebody who was standing right in front of me, she got a head injury, she had some broken ribs," Ashley tells the Dr. Don Morning Show. "And her son actually broke his femur in three places." The caller was in the "Sugar Pit," a space near the front of the stage reserved for Sugarland's biggest fans. "I could literally touch the stage," she says.

The wind kicked up quickly, so quickly in fact that many in her group of 15 thought a tornado was stirring up sand from the track they stood on. She remembers not being able to hear anything but the wind, and that the sand made it difficult to see. "I had a friend say, 'It's coming down.' And if she literally would not have turned me around I would have not made it out. I was less than a foot away from not making it out."

Many fans rushed to safety, but many others rushed to lift the rigging off of trapped fans. Doctors and nurses pushed through the crowd to help out, and Ashley said their bravery no doubt saved many lives. Five people were killed, and over 40 others were injured in the accident.

Watch Coverage of the Aftermath of Saturday's Accident