Medusa Festival Stage Collapse Leaves 1 Dead, 40 Others Injured
Early Saturday morning, high winds caused part of a stage to collapse at Medusa Festival killing one and leaving at least 40 others injured. Organizers halted the remainder of the event out of safety concerns.
The BBC reports that the deceased was a man in his 20s. Three of the people injured suffered serious trauma, having remained in the hospital by Saturday afternoon.
Spanish national weather agency AEMET reported “strong gusts of wind and a sudden rise in temperatures” during the night per Reuters. Wind speeds of 51 miles per hour were recorded at Alicante Airport in Valencia, Spain.
"We are completely devastated and saddened at what happened this morning," wrote Medusa’s organizers in a statement. "At around four in the morning unexpected and violent strong winds destroyed certain areas of the festival, forcing management to make the immediate decision to vacate the concert area to guarantee the safety of attendees, workers and artists."Medusa Festival’s 2022 lineup included not only EDM acts like Afrojack and Steve Aoki, but also house and techno mainstays like Carl Cox, Ben Sims, and Oscar Mulero. A Spanish DJ named Miguel Serna was performing onstage at the time of the collapse.
“It was a very tense few minutes, I’ve never experienced anything like it before,” Serna wrote in an Instagram post, according to Reuters. “The tragedy happened just at the end of my session on the main stage, just below it, which was the most affected. It was a few moments of horror. I am still in shock."
Medusa Festival takes place in the town of Cullera on the east coast of Spain. It debuted in 2014 with headliners like Christian Smith, Cristian Varela, and Fatima Hajji. The 2020 and 2021 editions of the event were both canceled on account of restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
