Details are emerging of a serious crowd crush at Falls Festival in Lorne overnight, which left 19 festival-goers hospitalised and more than 60 treated by paramedics.
The incident occurred after the DMA’s set at around 9.50pm, when fans leaving the Grand Theatre stage slipped and fell on an embankment.
Fans at the back of the crowd continued to push forward, unaware of the obstruction further ahead, leading to a stampede-like trampling event.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports the six men and thirteen women hospitalised after the crush presented with “possible spinal injuries; head and facial injuries; leg, rib, hip and pelvic fractures; and cuts and bruises.”
Attendees have posted to social media regarding the events, with one Reddit user saying they were “in the middle of the bottleneck and about five seconds after I said to my friend “ok this is how people get trampled and die” there were some terrible screams from the front and I was almost lifted off my feet as people started REALLY squeezing and pushing.”
“A girl near me fell down and her mates went with her and couldn’t get back up, they were piled 7 bodies high, I came back round to help pull them out but was almost crying in frustration because I wasn’t strong enough and could only help prop them up, the girl at the bottom was unconscious.“After an eternity we cleared the pile and I checked behind me to see another blue-faced guy getting CPR. That was at least five unconscious people I saw and dozens more carried to the medical centre. Maybe I’m overreacting but I literally thought people were going to die today.”
Falls Festival has made a statement on Facebook:
In response, other attendees are posting their experiences:
Due to low phone reception at the festival grounds, anyone concerned about specific attendees has been urged to contact the festival directly at patroninfo@fallsfestival.com.
We’ll update this story as it develops.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: Falls Festival / Facebook.
