Spanish festival Medusa shuts early as high winds cause fatal stage collapse
- PublishedMon, Aug 15, 2022, 13:10
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- One person died and dozens more were injured at the event in Cullera, south of Valencia.
- High winds in Spain over the weekend caused dance music festival Medusa to close early after a stage collapsed, killing one person, Reuters reports. According to a statement on Medusa's Instagram page, "an unexpected and violent gale destroyed certain areas of the festival" at around 4 AM on Saturday, August 13th, sending tents, staging and other infrastructure flying. This was the fourth of six days at the event in Cullera, south of Valencia. Gusts of 82 KPH (51 MPH) were recorded down the coast at Alicante airport by national weather agency AEMET. As well as the deceased person, who the local council described as "young," 32 people were taken to hospital for a mix of serious and minor injuries. "The safety of our attendees has always been our absolute priority," Medusa wrote. "Also workers and artists [...] For this reason, and because this remains our key principle, the Medusa team has taken the decision to cancel our festival. The adverse and unexpected weather conditions that are expected to continue throughout the day force us morally and responsibly to end our 2022 edition." Medusa, which this year featured its usual mix of EDM and techno acts, initially suspended activities on the 13th before cancelling the festival altogether. As such, Carl Cox, Marco Carola, David Guetta and many others couldn't perform. In response to the tragedy, the local council declared two days of mourning and suspended all institutional activities on the 13th and 14th. Watch a video of the winds via BBC News, and read Medusa's two statements (in Spanish).