Singer and dancer Joana Sainz died at 30 years old after a pyrotechnic fired shards of its metal casing into her stomach when she and her group were performing at a town festival.
- Sep 2, 2019
AceShowbiz - Spanish pop star Joana Sainz died in a freak firework accident. The singer/dancer was performing with her 15-member group, Super Hollywood Orchestra, at a festival in the small town of Las Berlanas about 80 miles northwest of Madrid on Sunday, September 1 when an exploding stage firework struck her.
A video taken by an audience member captured a pyrotechnic firing shards of its metal casing into Joana's stomach. A man at the festival said, "There were two rockets - one that went in the right direction and the other hit the singer in the abdomen." Eyewitnesses recalled they heard a very loud bang and then saw the singer lying on the floor of the stage before the curtain was quickly lowered.
A doctor and four nurses who were in the audience ran to the stage to help. Local emergency service confirmed the incident happened at 1:49 A.M. and the ambulance arrived about 25 minutes later. Paramedics attended to the singer at the scene before transporting her to the Avila hospital in an unconscious state, but she was later pronounced dead of her injuries.
"Nobody can explain it," Isidoro Lopez of promoter Prones 1SL tells the local news agency Avila Red of the incident. "We have been doing the same [act] for five years." Isidoro says the fireworks are like sparklers and supposed to last 15 to 20 seconds. An investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the accident.
Prines 1SL says in a statement on Facebook, "The whole Prones family, partners, artists, friends, collaborators are very sad and dismayed by the loss of our companion and friend Joana Sainz, dancer and choreographer of the Super Hollywood Orchestra. We sincerely appreciate all the love we are receiving in these hard moments."
The town of Las Berlanas also posted a tribute to Joana on its Facebook page. "We want to pay our condolences to the family of Joana ... of the Super Hollywood group who yesterday passed away, as well as to her group members," it states. "R.I.P Johana Sainz. You are in our memory."
