Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

FESTIVAL

Over 22,000 evacuated as fire hits Spain music festival

More than 22,000 people were evacuated Saturday when the stage at an electronic music festival near Barcelona erupted in flames, sending revellers running.

Published: 30 July 2017 09:27 CEST

Over 22,000 evacuated as fire hits Spain music festival

A Tomorrowland festival in Belgium in 2016. Photo: Jonas Roosens/AFP

Firefighters rushed to the Tomorrowland festival in Santa Coloma de Gramenet in northeastern Spain, and eventually managed to extinguish the blaze which caused no injuries, they said in a statement.

A total of 22,143 people had to be evacuated from the festival, they added.

Footage of the incident shows one side of the stage consumed by giant flames, a shower of sparks raining down as people ran away and black smoke billowing up.

It is not clear what caused the blaze, but organisers said on their Facebook page it was due to a technical malfunction.

“Thanks to the professional intervention of the authorities all 22.000 visitors were evacuated safely and without reports of injuries,” they said.

France's Fête de la musique 'will go ahead, with masks and a curfew'

Photo: ABDULMONAM EASSA / AFP

Culture minister Roselyn Bachelot, taking part in a Q&A session with readers of French newspaper le Parisien, confirmed that the annual summer festival will go ahead this year on its usual date of June 21st.

The festival date is normally marked with thousands of events across France, from concerts in tiny villages to huge open-air events in big cities and street-corner gigs in local neighbourhoods.

Last year the festival did go ahead, in a scaled-down way, and Bachelot confirmed that the 2021 event will also happen, but with restrictions.

She said: “It will be held on 21st June and will not be subject to the health passport.

“People will be able to dance, but it will be a masked party with an 11pm curfew.”

Under France’s phased reopening plan, larger events will be allowed again from June 9th, but some of them will require a health passport (with either a vaccination certificate or a recent negative test) to enter.

The Fête de la musique, however, is generally focused around lots of smaller neighbourhood concerts.

The curfew is being gradually moved back throughout the summer before – if the health situation permits – being scrapped entirely on June 30th.

Bachelot added: “I appeal to everyone’s responsibility.

“The rate of 50 percent of people vaccinated should have been reached by then, so we will reach an important level of immunity.”

The Fête de la musique is normally France’s biggest street party, with up to 18,000 events taking place across the country on the same day.

It’s hugely popular, despite being (whisper it) the idea of an American – the concept is the brainchild of American Joel Cohen, when he was working as a music producer for French National Radio (France Musique) in the 1970s.

By 1982 the French government put its weight behind the idea and made it an official event and it’s been a fixture in the calendar ever since.

Url copied to clipboard!