As Madonna makes her way around Europe with her Sticky and Sweet tour, she litterally has brought the roof down, as her troop of roadies have become victims of a badly erected stage when a 53 year old French man was killed and six others seriously injured when 50 technicians from a range of nationalities were working to set up the structure. Up to a dozen people were underneath the stage when it collapsed, emergency services said.

The Velodrome in Marseille, France’s second biggest sports arena and home to the Olympique de Marseille football club, was to be Madonna’s next scheduled performance this Sunday as part of the tour which has now been cancelled. “At this point we don’t know how it happened, but we are confident no one else is still under the rubble,” a French police officer told CNN.

The ex wife of Guy Ritchie is currently in Udine, Italy putting the final touches to the soundcheck at the Stadio Friuli, and released a statement through her representative saying, “My prayers go out to those who were injured and their families along with my deepest sympathy to all those affected by this heartbreaking news,”

Firefighters said the accident occurred when the roof of the stage became unbalanced as it was being lifted by four cranes, toppling one of the cranes which fell crashing onto the structure below.

The tickets for that particular venue on the star’s tour were discounted last week after sales were seen to be less than anticipated and the organizers were having problems filling the huge arena.

In Paris last week, Madonna attracted a crowd of just 15,00.

It was rumored that Michael Jackson’s change of start dates at London’s O2 Arena for his This Is It tour, was due to the conflict with Madonna’s scheduled appearances which saw Jackson moving his start date back by 3 days to July 13th. A date he was doomed never to keep following his sudden death on June 25th in Los Angeles.