MADRID (Reuters) – One person was killed and dozens injured when part of the stage at an electronic music festival near the Spanish city of Valencia collapsed early on Saturday due to high winds violent, announced the regional emergency services.
Other infrastructure was also damaged when gusty winds hit the Medusa Festival, a major six-day electronic music festival held in the east coast town of Cullera, south of Valencia.
Among the injured, three suffered serious trauma and 14 minor injuries, regional emergency services said on Twitter.
Regional health authorities later said 40 people had been treated.
“We are completely devastated and saddened by what happened this morning,” organizers said in a statement on the festival’s Facebook page.
“Around four o’clock in the morning, strong, violent and unexpected winds destroyed parts of the festival, forcing the management to take the immediate decision to evacuate the concert area to guarantee the safety of participants, workers and artists”, organizers said.
The festival has been suspended for now, they added.
National meteorological agency AEMET said there had been “strong gusts of wind and a sudden increase in temperatures” overnight, with gusts of 82 km/hour recorded at Alicante airport, in the Valencia region.
(Report Jessica Jones and Elena Rodriguez, French version Jean-Michel Bélot)
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