Concertgoers who were hurt in a crowd surge at Boardmasters music festival have spoken out about their injuries.
It was reported by the Devon and Cornwall police that the incident at the Newquay festival “left a small number of attendees injured” on Friday (August 9), with the festival later confirming that seven attendees were taken to hospital.
In a statement on the police website, they described it as an isolated incident, and said: “The injured parties are currently being treated on-site by medical staff or have been taken to hospital to be checked over. None of the injuries are considered serious.”
As a result, a DJ set was cancelled, with Boardmasters taking to X/Twitter to say: “Sammy Virji’s set was cancelled this evening to allow our on site teams to respond to a crowd surge. No serious injuries have been reported and our pit and medical teams responded immediately to assist those involved.”
@boardmasters this doesn’t look like a safe festival pic.twitter.com/u4tOS1ucdN
— Andre Moreau (@champscompagne) August 9, 2024
Now, several attendees have spoken out about their injuries. One teen told Sky News that he was pushed to the floor by the surge: “When loads of people came in, I was pushed and fell on my back, with my leg twisted,” he told the publication.
“It was hyperextended. It was incredibly painful, and I couldn’t get up. There were people on top of me, and I was on top of other people.”
One woman who attended the festival with her daughters described the “carnage” she saw, saying: “There were kids everywhere. There were kids crying, there were kids holding their legs, there were kids being carried.”
She also recalled finding a boy who was “really badly hurt”.
“He was shaking, he was lying flat and we tried to help him. As I looked around, there were a couple of dozen kids there. And obviously this wasn’t a place where there was first aid – there were a few medics, but not many.” Another woman reported that “there were no stretchers or ice packs or ambulances”.
Speaking about a child she came across who was crying, the woman said: “You could see there was blood and I don’t know if it was bone – it looked like bone – coming out of his leg”.
An update: pic.twitter.com/nUxVBwM0YS
— Boardmasters (@boardmasters) August 10, 2024
If you need to speak to us, you can get in touch by emailing boardmasters@visionninegroup.com. pic.twitter.com/Lj5yFEmizr
— Boardmasters (@boardmasters) August 11, 2024
One 16-year-old told BBC that the festival “should be 10 times smaller”, particularly given Boardmasters got permission to increase its capacity by thousands this year, bringing the attendance to an estimated 58,000 people. He said the large crowd around him “fell like dominos”.
“The crowd was claustrophobic,” he said. “I couldn’t really move and when the crowd surge fell, a guy landed on my ankle. I asked him to get off me, but he couldn’t because of hundreds of people on top of him.”
One woman wound up with a fractured knee after being caught in the crush, and she described similar scenes (via Yahoo News). “The crowd then pushed back and caused everyone to fall with me being the bottom person and I had about 10 people fall onto my legs.
“I was screaming ‘my legs’ when I heard the crunch as someone landed on it.”
She mentioned there were “hundreds of people were waiting” at the welfare tent she was sent to.
Following the incident, the festival continued as normal, and Boardmasters have now invited people to email them if they need to discuss their experience. You can get in touch with the festival by emailing boardmasters@visionninegroup.com.
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