Rolling Stones donating share of Polish concert proceeds to bus crash fund

WARSAW (AFP) - British rockers The Rolling Stones are going ahead with a concert in Poland despite three days of national mourning for 26 pilgrims killed in a coach accident in France, organizers said Monday.

While the group has decided not to call off the concert Wednesday evening, which is expected to draw tens of thousands of fans to Warsaw, victims' families will receive a share of the proceeds,

concert promotion firm Viva Art said in a statement.

The company did not specify the sum to be donated by the Rolling Stones nor the concert's sponsors.

The event at a Warsaw race-track is part of the group's current European tour, and is scheduled to begin only hours before the official end of three days of mourning declared by Polish President Lech Kaczynski in the wake of Sunday's deadly crash in the French Alps.

Mick Jagger and fellow band members will also ask the crowd to observe a minute's silence during the event, organizers said.

Several performers have called off concerts scheduled to take place during the mourning period, notably British star Rod Stewart, who postponed an event scheduled for Tuesday in the historic shipyard in the Baltic Sea city of Gdansk.

The pilgrims' coach crash in the French Alps has sent a shockwave across Poland, where more than 90 percent of the 38.2 million people are Roman Catholic.

The Polish-registered vehicle, carrying 48 pilgrims and two drivers back from visiting a local Roman Catholic shrine, had brake trouble Sunday morning as it drove down a steep and winding road between Gap and Grenoble, officials said.

It smashed through the safety barrier, hurtling 40 meters (130 feet) onto the banks of a river below and catching fire. Twenty-six people were killed and 24 injured, 14 of them seriously.
ABS-CBNNEWS.COM