Ravers Lose Sight at Russian Laser Show

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

Dozens of partygoers at an outdoor rave near Moscow last week have lost partial vision after a laser light show burned their retinas, Russian health officials said on Monday.

Moscow city health department officials confirmed 12 cases of laser-blindness at the Central Ophthalmological Clinic, and daily newspaper Kommersant said another 17 were registered at City Hospital 32 in the centre of the capital.

Attendees at the July 5 Aquamarine Open Air Festival in Kirzhach, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Moscow, began seeking medical help days after the show, complaining of eye and vision problems, health officials told Reuters.

"They all have retinal burns, scarring is visible on them. Loss of vision in individual cases is as high as 80 percent, and regaining it is already impossible," Kommersant quoted a treating ophthalmologist as saying.

Attendees said heavy rains forced organisers to erect massive tents for the all-night dance party, and lasers that normally illuminate upwards into the sky were instead partially refracted into the ravers' eyes.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=5368193

[YOY]

1. Did someone use an industrial military laser or something???

Sounds like a cartoon on adult swin I saw a few weeks ago.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6639779289978126564&q=Dethklok+Fatty&ei=-Xl7SIDdIZSGrQKOpvjgCw&hl=en

[izquierdista]

3. Every laser is dangerous

Even a laser pointer is a Class III laser and can cause eye damage if not used properly. Despite what all cats seem to think, lasers are NOT toys. They should NEVER be used where they can be bounced, reflected, refracted, or otherwise carelessly aimed at an eye.

[dysfunctional press]

14. they were probably fairly powerful- since they were the kind they use for sky-shows...

but because of the weather, they used them inside of tents instead.

[Indenturedebtor]

2. That sucks :( n/t

[Blue_Tires]

4. whatever happened to just using colored spotlights?

[Doctor Cynic]

5. In post-Soviet Russia, laser shines you...

[mikelgb]

6. lolz

[daggahead]

11. I don't know why ...

... but that Yakoff Smirnoff-like response has me in friggin stitches!

[seriousstan]

7. I like this sign.....

[mr_hat]

8. Dropped acid, Blue Oyster Cult concert

fourteen years old,
And I thought them lasers were a spider chasing me...

[Ian David]

9. Active Denial System Rave? n/t

[DS1]

10. Their e-fueled dilated eyes probably didn't help

[daggahead]

12. The cynic in me ...

... thinks that it wasn't a rave, but a mass lasik appointment gone wrong.

[sudopod]

13. Deathklok strikes again! nt

[Crowman1979]

15. Russia is know for creating large and excessively hazardous hardware.

The Tsara Bomba (50 MEGATONS!), Bear Bomber (for being excessively loud), MIG-25 radar system (known to kill rabbits in a half-mile radius), chernobyl...I could go on and on. They practically turn the volume up to 11 on the products they make.

[KillCapitalism]

16. People still go to raves?

The last one I went to was in 1998 & they were already going out of fashion by then.