LANCASTER, N.H. — A man and a girl were killed and at least 22 people were injured Monday when a severe storm blew down a circus tent in northern New Hampshire, officials said.

State Fire Marshal William Degnan said at a briefing late Monday night that the injured were taken to four regional hospitals. Their conditions were not immediately known.

The accident happened around 5:30 p.m. as the first of two scheduled shows was getting underway at the Lancaster fairgrounds, about 90 miles north of Concord, the state capital.

Degnan said Sarasota, Fla.-based Walker International Events was scheduled to do the shows Monday before moving on to Vermont on Tuesday.

About 100 people were in the tent when it collapsed, he said.

Degnan said the identities of the victims, both of whom were spectators, would not be released until their families were notified.

Walker International Events did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the area during the time of the collapse.

One man died and more than a dozen people were injured Sunday at a festival in a Chicago suburb when a tent where people sought shelter during a brief storm blew off its moorings and fell on some of the crowd. The annual celebration known as the Prairie Fest had attracted about 5,000 people when the tent collapsed.


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