Concertgoers have been left crying in agony with broken bones after a ‘terrifying’ crowd surge at Boardmasters music festival in Newquay, which saw speakers fall into the crowd.
During DJ and producer Sammy Virji’s performance on The Point stage, two ‘massive’ crowd surges were reported, forcing his performance to be cancelled.
Leanne Woofin, of Barry, South Wales, told how her daughter and two friends were left hyperventilating after the crush.
‘This is her first ever festival, and she phoned me saying she’s been hurt in this big crush,’ she said. ‘She had a bruised thigh and knee but one of her friends had a panic attack while the other dislocated her knee and suffered a torn ligament.
‘She said there were these two huge waves at this new stage, the first one was fine, but in the second one everyone just collapsed in a heap on the floor. Speakers then started falling on people and they were crushed underneath them.
‘She even said people were going around with needles spiking people with ketamine.’
Ms Woofin went on to say: ‘The one with the dislocated knee was taken to Royal Cornwall Hospital last night, and on the way there two other people had a dislocated shoulder and broken arm.
‘Her brother had to drive all the way up from Barry in South Wales to collect her and she’s now back home. Her dad had to leave his holiday early and has complained to Boardmasters this morning.’
Describing the level of security at the event, she added: ‘It feels like there’s just not enough security here, this stage is meant to be a new one and they aren’t protecting people.
‘My daughter’s now just afraid and I feel like she’s not getting the full experience of the festival.
‘There’s people supposedly going round with needles, speakers are falling on people. How do speakers fall off a stage and land on people in the crowd? It shouldn’t be happening.’
Another mother, who attended the festival with her husband and two daughters, described the ‘massive crowd surge’ as ‘terrifying’ and said security ‘were doing nothing’ about the overcrowding.
‘My daughter and I got crushed against the barriers so I heaved her up and over a barrier and then pulled myself out,’ she said.
‘I warned the security guards again that there was a big problem brewing. Nothing seemed to be done. There was no security stopping people.’
The festival attendee added that she and her family remained at the festival for another few hours before deciding to leave as the situation was too dangerous.
‘We stayed for another couple of hours. We were right next to The Point stage and we could see it getting massively overfilled,’ she said.
‘We decided to get out of the whole festival. As we did, they must have closed the Point because again, we got crushed by a huge crowd surge and people telling us there were people with broken bones and not to try going down the way we needed to go to get to the exit.
‘In the end, we went through an emergency exit.’
She went on to criticise organisers of the festival for ‘poor and dangerous crowd control measure’.
She said: ‘My daughters were terrified. I’ve been to many festivals over the years – I’ve never seen one so overcrowded and with such poor and dangerous crowd control measure.’
People on social media reported claims of broken ankles, broken legs and drink spiking.
Devon and Cornwall Police said in a statement: ‘We were notified following a crowd collapse at Boardmasters music festival in Newquay on Friday 9 August which left a small number of attendees injured.
‘The injured parties were treated on-site by medical staff and a small number were taken to hospital to be checked over for minor injuries.
‘Contrary to speculation, we can confirm that there have been no deaths as a result of this incident. This is an isolated incident and the festival continues.’
In a statement, the festival organisers said there were no reports of serious injuries and the planned set by DJ and producer Sammy Virji was cancelled.
Boardmasters said: ‘We can confirm that Sammy Virji’s set was cancelled and that The Point stage was closed to allow onsite teams to respond to an incident in the audience.
‘No serious injuries have been reported and the pit and medical teams immediately assisted those involved. Safety is our number one priority and we thank Sammy and our audience for their understanding.
‘All other stages have been unaffected and performances continue as planned.’
DJ Sammy Virji said he was ‘gutted’ about his set being cancelled but ‘safety should always come first’.
In a post on his Instagram, he said: ‘I’m incredibly gutted about the stage cancellation for Boardmasters, whilst I’m absolutely honoured at the amount of people who turned up, crowd surges can be very serious and safety should always come first.
‘The stoppage was completely out of my hands and hope you all understand the festival needed to prioritise everyone’s wellbeing. Hopefully catch you all soon at another set.’
Revellers have been enjoying a toasty start to the Cornish festival as the country prepares for a week end of sizzling heat.
The mini-heatwave has also come with a warning from fire chiefs about the dangers of swimming in waterways.
Britain is set to sizzle in a ‘short-lived but quite intense’ spell of hot weather this weekend with temperatures building up to 34C in a mini-heatwave.
This will come as welcome news to festival goers this weekend who have gathered at the Newquay for a weekend of good music and even better music.
The roasting hot weather caused some disruption at the festival yesterday as festival staff were pictured handing out cups of water to thirsty revellers.