One person was killed and dozens injured when strong winds collapsed part of the main stage at a dance music festival near the Spanish city of Valencia early Saturday, emergency services said.
Other infrastructure was also damaged when gusts of wind battered the Medusa Festival, a major electronic music festival held over six days in the east coast city of Cullera.
Thirty-two people were taken to hospital and three remained there Saturday afternoon, regional health authorities said.
Organizers said they were canceling the rest of the festival for the safety of attendees.
“We are completely devastated and saddened by what happened this morning,” organizers said earlier on the festival’s Facebook page, adding that the “extreme” weather conditions had damaged various infrastructure at the festival site.
“At around four in the morning, an unexpected and strong strong wind destroyed some areas of the festival, forcing the management to take an immediate decision to vacate the concert area to ensure the safety of visitors, workers and artists,” the organizers said.
The festival, which was set to feature French DJ David Guetta on Saturday, had DJs set to perform across five stages throughout the night on Friday. DJ Miguel Serna was on the main stage during his set between 3 and 4 a.m. when the incident happened.
“It’s been an intense few minutes, I’ve never felt anything like it before,” he wrote on Instagram.
“The tragedy happened right at the end of my session on the main stage, right below it, which was the most affected (area). It was a few moments of horror, I’m still in shock.’
The national meteorological agency AEMET said there were “strong gusts of wind and a sudden rise in temperature” overnight, with gusts of 82 kilometers per hour (51 mph) recorded at Alicante airport in the Valencia region.
Suddenly there was a strong wind, very hot air, all the sand started to move, we saw the tents flying,” said one visitor to the festival, identified only as Laura.
“People started coming from concerts and, according to them, parts of the stage, the tree, were blown away, it was chaos.”
National broadcaster TVE showed images of strong gusts of wind battering people’s tents and festival canopies in the middle of the night as people shut their eyes against sandstorm-like conditions.
“We are in a state of shock because we were 30 meters away (from the stage). It could have been me, it could have been anyone,” Jesus Carretera, who was at the festival with his brother, told TVE.
