SAN FRANCISCO—The Cirque Du Soleil Luzia show resumed on Saturday, December 3 at 8:00 p.m. at AT&T park after a technician was fatally struck in the head by equipment during a pre-set show on November 28. The victim was identified as Olivier Rochette, a technician from Quebec, who is the one of one of the founders of Cirque Du Soleil, Gilles Ste-Croix.
CEO of Cirque du Soleil, Daniel Lamarre stated, “Olivier has always been a member of our tight family and a beloved colleague.”
According to Cirque Du Soleil, Rochette was hit by a telescopic lift prior to the scheduled show. He was immediately taken to a hospital but later died from injuries sustained. Wednesday’s performance at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on November 29 was cancelled. Cirque Toruk did perform as scheduled on Wednesday.
Lamarre stated that the recent injuries involving two other Cirque Du Soleil employees are not related to the death of Rochette. Acrobat Lisa Skinner fractured a vertebra on November 27 while performing in Brisbane, Australia.
A 27-year-old man injured his back on November 30 while participating in the Cirque Du Soleil OVO show in Bell Centre. Lamarre says that the accusations of injuries increasing since ticket sales has increased, is false.
“We have outside experts looking into [the accidents], we have our own safety department, a permanent department at Cirque du Soleil that is also looking into them, and we will do everything we do to continue to protect the security of our employees” stated officials to CBC News in Montreal.
The California Division of Occupational Health and Safety is continuing to pursue investigation of this accident.
“We wish to thank our fans, friends, family members, the San Francisco community and the entire Cirque du Soleil family from around the world for their love and support through these difficult times. We’ve decided as a group to turn the lights back on and step back on stage at 8pm tonight (Saturday, December 3) under our Big Top in San Francisco,” stated the Luzia cast and crew in a Facebook post.
Written By Prezleigh Moy and Donald Roberts
