A rock music festival in Germany was halted for five hours today after lightning strikes injured 71 people.
The festival, now in its 31st year and with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Black Sabbath at the top of the billing this year, takes place at the airport in Mendig, near the Nuerburgring motor racing track.
Festival organisers told a news conference that performances would resume after the storm blew over, and said they had warned some 92,500 participants before arriving to be prepared for bad weather.
"We are not considering cancelling the festival," said spokeswoman Katharina Wenisch.
Ms Wenisch said the festival had been sold out for months.
A spokesman for the German Red Cross said 71 people were injured during lightning strikes yesterday, including eight who had to be hospitalised.
Most were now in good condition, except one man who had to be resuscitated at the scene and remained in hospital, he said.
"Cancellation ... was never an issue," Marek Lieberberg, who runs the festival, told fans on the event website.
He said the festival would continue to issue weather warnings via Facebook, Twitter and the event website.
Thirty-three people were injured at the festival last year by lightning strikes, according to German media.
