Scores hurt in JLS crowd surge

An investigation was under way today into how scores of people were injured in a crowd surge during a performance by JLS at a Christmas lights switch-on.

Four people needed hospital treatment and 60 others were injured after a metal barrier collapsed as the X-Factor runners-up took to the stage in Birmingham city centre.

Video footage taken by onlookers showed the barrier collapsing under the weight of 20,000 fans surging forward.

The planned concert and lights switch-on were cancelled as paramedics set up a medical unit at Birmingham’s Millennium Point to treat the injured.

Birmingham City Council organised the free event to mark the city’s Christmas lights switch-on and a host of chart-topping acts, including the Sugababes, Tinchy Stryder, Chipmunk, Little Boots, Alexandra Burke, were due to perform.

But as JLS sang their latest hits, the barrier gave way to the surging crowd of fans, leaving the council little option but to cancel the remainder of the event.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said one woman in her 30s suffered serious crush injuries to her pelvis, shoulder and leg, while another suffered a broken ankle in the surge, which happened at about 1.30pm yesterday.

A teenage boy also fractured his wrist in the melee, while a girl in her teens suffered crush injuries to her back and legs.