First responders and every day heroes risking their lives for strangers. A desperate search for lost loved ones. I might have lost my entire family. I dont know. Who would make it out alive. I was just crying for help. I was so scared. I just told her that mommy was here. Im lester holt, and this is dateline. Heres Andrea Canning with twist of fate. The hoosier state, the heart of americas heartland, where the motion of helping ones neighbor is as much a way of life as cornfields and barnyard basketball. But on a sultry august evening, that selfless indiana spirit would be put to the ultimate test. All units, all units. Severe thunderstorm warning. Oh, my god and as lives intersected on a patch of race track dirt at the state fair, mothers, fathers, neighbors and friends would put themselves in harms way. Do you have an injury . In a desperate attempt to save the lives of complete strangers. A little girl calm down calm down calm down they had gathered that day in indianapolis as hoosiers do avenue summer for the state fair. A twoweek spectacle of sights, sounds and tastes meant to showcase all that the great state of indiana has to offer. It was august 13, 2011. And among the tens of thousands at the state fairgrounds that day was laura magjars, her mother and her three daughters, gabby, danielle and maggie. I thought the state fair in sugar land, what a great way to spend the day. The Country Music duo was scheduled to perform at the fair that night. They had tickets. Maggie was obsessed with sugar land the moment she heard stuck like glue. We listened to the song over and over. Maggie was excited to see her idol in person. She had a shaggy bob. So she had to get her haircut that way. And when jennifer wore a tutu, maggie became obsessed with tutus. So obsessed, she insisted on wearing that tutu all day. I was sort of embarrassed. I looked at my mom. She said we dont know these people, well never see them again. Let her wear it. Let her enjoy it. After a day of enjoying the fair, laura and her family made their way to the concert. The main stage indiana state fair was really a giant slab of concrete next to the dirt race track, a temporary steel structure had been erected to hold lighting and equipment. A massive tarp hung across it. Across the track was the grandstand seating, but roughly 200,000 people attending the concert, they had tickets for the pit. You were right up close to the stage. Yeah, you could just put your hand out and touch it. Jordan paulette was also waiting for the concert to start. Was the excitement building, waiting for sugar land to come out . Mmhm. She had driven up from cincinnati with her sister and a cheerleading coach and her mother jill. We went as kind of a last hurrah for the summer. My daughter was going off to college. And we always included megan as part of our family, one of my girls. She was kind of that big sister that jamie never had. She could talk to her about anything. Boys or, or being nervous about college. She was just a wonderful role model for my girls. Also in the sugar pit that night was 30 year old andrea, a College Volleyball player who was known for her radiant, infectious smile. A smile she flashed on National Television in 2006 when she appeared on the show ellen. My dog will sit and my dog will shake. Andrea had gone to the concert with friends, leaving her 4yearold daughter at her mothers house. And now she was part of the crowd in the tightlypacked sugar pit waiting for the band to take the stage. And as they waited, these strangers got to know each other. We were kind of chitchatting with the people around us. Everybody was in a really good mood, excited. Beautiful afternoon, early evening. 3yearold maggie, in particular, left an impression on many of those and her. There was this cute little girl, probably about 3 years old, wearing this pink and purple tutu. The doctor was in the sugar pit with one of his own daughters. They were struck by maggie in her pink tutu. My daughter kind of pointed her out to me first and actually kind of was playing with her a little bit. Even the security staff was taken by maggie, letting her stand on the steps leading up to the stage. Oh, she was thrilled. She had her sign that had i and a red heart and sugar land. She was ready. And then the weather took a turn. It started to get a little bit cloudy, a little bit darker. But in indiana it rains all the time. It can get dark and you dont see a drop of rain. A gentleman came out on the stage and said oh, you know sugar lands coming on soon. Storm should pass right over us. Might get a little wet. Nobody moved. I mean, we were, we werent worried about anything. But jill, as well as everyone else in the sugar pit, would soon have plenty to worry about. That ominous sky was getting darker and closer, bringing with it wind, rain and chaos. And that small patch of dirt in front of the stage was about to become ground zero. Everything just happened like that. When we come back, for thousands of fans of the band sugar land, a night out has turned into a catastrophe. Oh, my god i just heard terrifying screaming, and i just saw it coming towards me. Could any of them escape in time . I grabbed up maggie in my left arm, put my arm around the other two girls, and i said run we really wanted to take a relaxing trip to florida. You know . Just to unwind. But we can only afford one trip this year, and his High School Reunion is coming up in seattle. Everyones going. Then we heard about hotwire. And realized we could actually afford to take both trips. [woman] see, when really nice hotels have unsold rooms, they use hotwire to fill them. So we got our 4star hotels for half price. I should have been voted most likely to travel. Hotwire hotwire. 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I like caramel and crunchy stuff. [ female announcer ] new breyers gelato indulgences its way beyond ice cream. For the nearly 12,000 people waiting for the start of the sugar land concert indiana state fair, a beautiful august evening was about to turn into a nightmare. The storm that many assumed would pass right over arrived with a sudden, violent gust of wind that blew through the sugar pit, pelting the crowd with sand and grit. I told the girls, i said, come on, lets go. We can always come back. So we turned around. We had started to take a few steps to leave. But laura, at the concert with her mother and three daughters didnt know the real danger was just 60 feet above them. Someone in the grandstands captured this video of the wind shredding the massive tarp above the stage. Suddenly a Chain Reaction was set in motion. I glanced over my shoulder. All i saw was a beam sway. The wind was violently shaking the temporary structure above the stage. You just knew as a mother you had to get your kids out of there immediately. Yes. I grabbed up maggie in my left arm. Put my arm around the other two girls and i said run. And then the unthinkable happened. Yes. The people in the grandstands, some with cameras recording the scene could only watch as the horror began to unfold. Nearly 70,000 pounds of metal and equipment came crashing do you know on the scores of people scrambling to get out of the sugar pit. Ive never seen the stage actually coming at us that evening. I could feel the mass move toward us and i heard it. He had been in the sugar pit with his wife. His cell phone camera was on and recorded their harrowing run for safety. I turned to look where we stopped. And i would say the top of the stage awning was 5, no more than 10 feet behind us. David wood and his wife had narrowly escaped the collapse. But behind them now, on the other side of that twisted mass of metal and equipment were 10 year old jordan, her mother, her big sister and their friend megan, the cheerleading coach. Before it fell, i mean, we were all running. Everybody, i just heard terrifying screaming. And then for a second when it was falling i couldnt hear anything. Its like everything just blanked out. And i just saw it coming towards me. And then i just stopped and covered my head with my hands and just crouched down hoping that i was going to be okay. And it just somehow missed you . Yeah. I was just in this very lucky spot that i didnt get hit. But the other three werent so lucky. Each had been struck by the falling debris and were now motionless on the ground around jordan. I could only really hear myself screaming. And it sounded like a horror movie, just to be honest. I was just crying for help. And i was so scared. And i could just see blood on the sand, and i was just trying to lift everything off of my mom, because what would i do without her . Just yards away, another mother was on the ground too. Laura magjars. I remember waking uh, laying flat on my back in the sand. It was dark. I didnt realize i was under a tarp. I was surrounded by twisted metal. There was an eerie silence. Her 10 year old daughter danielle, unhurt, was standing over her. And i said are you okay . She said yes. I said are you sure . She said yes. She said how about you, mom . I said im fine. So i immediately started to look for my mom and two daughters. I saw maggie leaning up against a beam. Laura tried to stand up and get to maggie but fell to the ground. It turns out lauras leg was broken, and she couldnt walk. So i scooted myself to her and i grabbed her in my lap. Then danielle starts screaming her arm, her arm. I took one look. I couldnt tell if her arm was still attached. There was skin, lot of blood. I could see the bone. In this cell phone video, you can hear laura scream. Maggie i couldnt walk. I couldnt carry her, and i had no idea how i was going to get out of the twisted wreckage. I knew i was in big trouble. Coming up. It felt like a human instinct to run back in there. Heroes rush back in. But was there time . It really kind of hit my just how terrible this was. I thought oh, my god, i have one daughter thats okay, and i in the blink of an eye, the structure Holding Equipment above the stage indiana state fair had collapsed onto the crowd, including laura magjars and her family. And now, through the haze of mangled wreckage, laura, who had suffered a broken leg among other injuries, could only see two of her three daughters, and one of them, 3yearold maggie in the pink tutu, was in serious trouble. She was actually very quiet. She was pale. You could tell shed lost a lot of blood, and i believe she was in shock. Did she recognize you . Did she know you were there with her . I was holding her. I know she knows i had her, but she didnt say anything. I was thinking, oh, my god, i know i have a short amount of time to do something, or the worst could happen with her sitting here in my lap. So i immediately screamed for help for my daughter. Laura was now completely dependent on someone hearing that scream, someone who could help. I heard people screaming, and you still have people running around. And it was just kind of like, it felt like a human instinct to run back in there and find the people that needed help. Oh, my god david wood, who had narrowly escaped the collapse was now working his way back into the wreckage. Are you okay . His cell phone was still recording the terrifying scene. And then he came upon laura and maggie. I seen a Woman Holding her child. She was covered in blood. And initially i thought the woman was the one that was injured, and i was asking her what was injured, where was she injured at . She informed me it was her daughter. Its not moving. Calm down. Wheres she bleeding from . Oh, my god it was almost like a severed arm. And theres just blood coming out of it. We need a tourniquet. David removed his own shirt. You can hear lauras middle daughter danielle screaming in this video. A pied yeah trick nurse had also arrived, and now david and the nurse try to delicately apply the tourniquet to maggies arm. At the same time when im trying to do that, im hollering. Hey, we need a medic for this little girl right here it was kind of like a miracle. You ask for something, and you received. Im a doctor hey, we got a doctor watch out. It was the doctor who had been in the sugar pit with one of his own daughters, barely escaping the collapse. We felt extremely lucky to escape, especially after seeing what happened to the other people. He left his daughter with strangers, and she filmed him as he crimed back into the chaos. It was basically a maze of tubing. You had to weave your way through the wreckage. When he got to maggie, he immediately recognized her. Oh, my god, its that girl in that tutu. Its the same little girl his daughter had briefly played with while think waited for the common certificate to start. She was very quiet. Her eyes were big. And she wasnt crying or saying anything. It really kind of hit my just how terrible this was. Maggies arm injury was so severe robert knew she had to get to a hospital immediately. I saw the blood eye tourniquet, and i will no idea how much blood she had lost there before i got there. He picked up maggie in his armed and turned to take her out of 9 wreckage. I suddenly realized now what, it was hard to get into the rigging by myself. How do i get out holding an injured three Year Old Girl and not do more injury to her. At that point, in yet another fortuitous move for maggie, a state trooper arrived. I gave mag eye to him. And my job the the t and my job was to watch that arm. There were times in order to get out of the rigging hed hand her to me, then id hand her to him. Finally, painstakingly they cleared the maze of wire and equipment. I said to him keep her arm in this position and get her help. Hes like okay. And he took off. And thats the last i saw of maggie. Badly injured and still inside the wreckage, laura magjars had helplessly watched strangers take her little girl. That must have been so hard to just let your daughter go at that moment, especially with stranger, and the condition she was in. I knew her situation was critical, and i knew i didnt have a choice. Did you think at any point that she could die . That crossed my mind. I didnt know if she was going to make it to the hospital. Laura now had her middle daughter, who was unhurt, by her side, but she still didnt know what had happened to her oldest daughter or her mother. Honestly, i thought oh, my god, i have one daughter thats okay and i might have lost my entire family. I dont know. All around, now, concertgoers and First Responders were fighting dangerous conditions in a desperate battle to save lives. And everyone knew time was running out. I just saw, like, people being carried, like this little girl had blood all over her, and then i saw this lady, like laying on the ground. It was like movie, a moshhorrib movie. Coming up. Two other mothers both with daughters in danger. It was horrible, to know that she couldnt be found. I just told her that mommy was here. Total strangers about to share an unexpected connection. A stage roof has caved in indiana state fair. In an instant, tons of metal have rained down on fans waiting to see the country band sugar land. Families are separated. Its not clear who escaped and who may still be trapped. And two mothers try to find their daughters and are about to learn theyre linked in a way they never could have imagined. Again, heres Andrea Canning. In the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the indiana state fair, radio dispatches capture the terrifying scene. First responders and concertgoers had rushed into the dangerous and unstable wreck ang. I need everything in the grand stands. And now a surreal drama was playing out. 10 year old jordan paulet was unhurt and standing helplessly over her mother, sister and family friend megan who were all badly injured. But now First Responders were demanding that jordan get out of harms way. If i could, i would lift it up and help them out, but i wasnt allowed to. If you werent hurt you have to get out as quick as you can. I said i love you, mom. Thats all i really care about. You just wanted to make sure you told her you loved her, at that time the words were all that were important. Mmhm. Were you worried that they could die . I was so scared. I didnt know what i would do without my mom, my sister and friend megan. Nevertheless, jordan crawled out of the wreck ablg herself, one of the lucky ones. It was so hard leaving them behind and being by myself. Strangers guided jordan through the chaos to a Police Station at the fairgrounds. She waited there for hours. But then finally there was some good news about her mom and sister. They were in the ambulance, and theyre going to the hospital. And that theyre going to be okay. And they didnt say where megan was yet. Thats because megan was so severely injured, she had been one of the first people evacuated to a hospital, and there were many others right behind her, like 30 year old mom andrea, the former volleyball player with the radiant smile. How weak was her pulse. At that point, it was fairly weak. This man is a paramedic, his wife angela is a doctor. They had witnessed the collapse from the grandstands, and racing to help came across andrea who was unconscious and gravely injured. There were speakers or Something Else that was overhead and the wind was picking up again. So at that point i did think, wow, this is kind of dangerous. Worried that more debris could fall, they loaded andrea onto a makeshift stretcher and carried her to a makeshift triage station. We just verbalized to each other we need to get her out of here. We set off on a mission to get her on an ambulance. And you knew time was running out. The only thing that mattered was getting her quickly to the hospital. Kerwin chased down an ambulance pulling away with a patient. I banged on the back door and they stopped. And they said hey, weve already got one patient. Her life was on the line. Yes. Absolutely. There was nothing else we could do for her at the fairgrounds. Andrea suffered massive head injury and was close to death. But doctors immediately put a drain in her skull to release the pressure in her brain. The quick actions of the martins had saved an