Radiohead have rescheduled a string of dates on their current tour to give themselves time to recover from the death of a drum technician and replace valuable equipment damaged by a stage collapse.

Scott Johnson was killed during the disaster prior to a show in Toronto, Canada at the weekend, which also wrecked staging equipment belonging to the band.

Frontman Thom Yorke and his bandmates have been left devastated by the tragedy and on Thursday they released a statement alerting fans to their decision to postpone a series of shows.

The statement reads: "As you will probably have heard the roof over the stage collapsed at our show in Toronto killing crew member Scott Johnson and injuring three other crew members. The collapse also destroyed the light show - this show was unique and will take many weeks to replace. The collapse also caused serious damage to our backline, some elements of which are decades old and therefore hard to replace."

"Whilst we all are dealing with the grief and shock ensuing from this terrible accident there are also many practical considerations to deal with & consequently we have to try and reschedule the following shows... We will make every effort to offer the fans the very best show possible under the circumstances - thanks for your understanding and support."

Scheduled shows in Italy, Germany and Switzerland have been axed and the band hopes to return to the stage in Nimes, France on July 10 for the first of two planned nights at venue Les Arenes.