Image copyright EPA Image caption The visitors had not been part of the police procession
At least 30 people were injured after a section of the traditional rainy parade in Brazil collapsed on Tuesday.
A section of the stage in Paraiso, Teresopolis, was driven down while a procession was going along it.
It fell and part of the ground gave way as people landed on and underneath it.
Among the injured was an actor in the popular TV show La Primavera in which songs are performed outdoors while fireworks explode.
Choking with fear after the accident, actor Andre Grandzola said: “The sun has shone so brightly on us on the first day that we were able to go for a walk, but [today] it has fallen, everything has collapsed, my life has collapsed with it.”
Image copyright Leveta Tribas
It is not the first time spectators have been injured after the parade, and this year it went ahead – albeit under heavy security.
During the previous parade, in 2016, 36 people were injured.
Isra Yoon, one of the participants, said she had led the parade for five years and it was one of the “most beautiful” experiences of her life.
“As I was about to start I felt something coming towards me. It was a shock and I thought it was the end. It was terrible.”
Image copyright Joao Cesar Lopes
She said the only important thing was that the show carried on.
Lopes Correia Correia, another participant, said: “The show went on as if nothing had happened. It was already full, not with pure adrenaline but with a kind of harmony.”
Image copyright YM
A young woman who was part of the parade told Associated Press that the people on the stage “all started running for their lives”, adding: “Some people fell.”
Rescue workers had to use rope and other assistance to lift one woman who was trapped under the stage, while others used barbed wire and rubber rings to pull apart the fallen half of the stage.
Image copyright Sky News Image caption Floravian Ribeiro dos Santos can be seen on CCTV recovering at a nearby health centre
Many of the visitors to the parade have been treated at a nearby health centre and the hospital has said its seven patients were in a stable condition.
Health authorities are now working to help people who were hurt during the parade.