Other infrastructure was also damaged when gusts hit the Medusa Festival, a huge electronic music festival held over six days in the east coast town of Cullera, south of Valencia. The festival, where French DJ David Guetta was due to play on Saturday, had DJs scheduled to play throughout the night on Friday across five stages. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Of the injured, three suffered serious injuries and 14 had more minor injuries, regional emergency services said on Twitter. Regional health authorities later said 40 people had been visited. “We are completely devastated and saddened by what happened this morning,” organizers said in a statement on the festival’s Facebook page. They said the “extraordinary” weather caused damage to various infrastructure at the festival site. “At around four in the morning, unexpected and violent strong winds damaged some areas of the festival, forcing management to take the immediate decision to evacuate the concert venue to guarantee the safety of attendees, workers and artists,” organizers said. The festival has been called off for now, they said. DJ Miguel Serna was on the main stage from 3am to 4am when the incident happened. “It was an intense few minutes, I’ve never experienced anything like it before,” she wrote in an Instagram story on Saturday. “The tragedy happened right at the end of my session on the main stage, right below, which was the most affected (area). It was a few scary moments, I’m still in shock.” National broadcaster TVE showed images of strong gusts of wind battering people’s tents in the middle of the night. “We are in a state of shock because we were 30 meters away (from the stage). It could have been me, it could have been anyone,” Jesus Carretero, who was at the festival with his brother, told TVE. National meteorological agency AEMET said there were “strong gusts of wind and a sudden rise in temperature” overnight, with gusts of 82 km/h (51 mph) recorded at Alicante airport in the Valencia region. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reporting by Jessica Jones and Elena Rodriguez Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Frances Kerry & Ross Russell Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
