Madrid, Spain (CNN) — The Medusa Festival in the city of Cullera, near Valencia, Spain, has been officially canceled following a stage collapse incident, festival organizers said in a statement on Saturday. One person died and 17 were injured, three of them seriously, according to local officials.
“The adverse and unexpected conditions that are expected to continue to happen throughout the day oblige us morally and out of responsibility to end our 2022 edition,” the organizers said in the statement. posted on social media.
“It is a very painful moment. Difficult and heartbreaking. A tremendously sad and discouraging moment for relatives, friends. A moment that no one should know about,” the statement added.
The young man who died in the stage collapse was 22 years old, the Spanish Civil Guard told CNN. He also said that there was more damage than the partial collapse of the stage.
The disaster occurred at the Medusa Festival in the city of Cullera, near Valencia at 4:18 am local time “due to a strong gust of wind”, they said.
“Due to a strong gust of wind, the main entrance and main stage of the Medusa Festival in Cullera fell to the ground,” the Guardia Civil press office in Valencia told CNN.
The Civil Guard said there were some 50,000 people in the festival grounds when the incident occurred. The press office added that the evacuation of the festival took around 40 minutes and that the exit gates to the venue were working properly.
Part of the stage collapsed at the Medusa Festival near Valencia.
The festival management on Saturday morning announced that the festival had been suspended.
“Due to the inclement weather that occurred during the early hours of August 13, 2022, and with the aim of guaranteeing the safety of the attendees, workers and artists gathered at the Medusa Festival, the festival organization suspends its activity for the time being,” he said. festival management On Instagram.
“The enclosure is evacuated as a preventive measure in order to facilitate the work of the emergency services and security of the Medusa festival,” he added.
The president of the regional government of Valencia, Ximo Puig, offered his condolences to the family and friends of the man who died on Saturday.
“A terrible accident that shocks us all. I want to convey my deepest condolences to the family and friends of the young man who died this morning at the Medusa Festival in Cullera.”, Puig said in a tweet without identifying the victim who died.
Videos posted on social media showed strong winds and structures falling off the stage as large crowds were evacuated.
Videos posted on social media early Saturday showed strong winds and structures falling from the stage as large crowds of festival-goers were evacuated.
Official service of the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) in the Valencian Community said on Twitter that the warm breeze produced very strong gusts of wind and abrupt increases in temperature.
At around 3:00 am local time, the temperature was 40.5 Celsius (104.9 degrees Fahrenheit) at the Alicante-Elche airport, just south of the concert site, on the Mediterranean coast, with winds of 82 kilometers (about 50 miles) per hour.
Temperatures have been rising across Europe with declared droughts in various parts of England and bushfires in France.
We wish to thank the writer of this write-up for this amazing material
One dead and 17 injured after the collapse of the stage at the Medusa Festival in Spain