ABBA-obsessed couple falls to their deaths from building balcony

Written by By Ashley Rust, CNN Stockholm, Sweden

To the dismay of fans, a man and a woman have died after falling from the balcony of a Stockholm apartment to the street below Tuesday evening.

Police say the pair were watching fireworks in the evening sun when they “panicked” and fell from the roof of the building, which was apparently their own.

One victim, a 66-year-old woman, died on the spot. The second, a 23-year-old man, died in the hospital.

The balcony on which the two fell. Credit: Swedes ABBA

“We can’t tell from where exactly they fell, but we know that they fell from a balcony on the 7th floor,” Dagens Nyheter reported, quoting police and firefighters.

“We are trying to determine their relationships. There are witnesses, and they will be questioned today. There is a document. We can’t make any conclusions yet.”

The Swedish section of the popular social media site Foursquare says the building in which the two fell belongs to a non-profit group called “Millennium Park,” which developed the “Six Skadi” series of affordable housing apartments.

ABBA tribute concert is planned in Stockholm to mark the 40th anniversary of their career. Credit: ABBA

Other concert promoter association head Attila Cañera told public broadcaster SVT that the performance venue, the Globetrotter club, had been hosting ABBA fans since the 1980s.

“My colleague’s house is right across the street,” he said. “He rang up me to ask if we were informed, and we’re absolutely shocked, and we are hoping that the two people concerned can get through the night.”

ABBA, formed in 1968, sold more than 220 million records and have been described as the “Swedish Beatles.” They shot to fame when they won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974.

The band performed a string of hits including “Dancing Queen,” “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” “Knowing, Knowing You” and “The Winner Takes It All” before departing the music industry in 1982.