One dead, 17 injured after stage collapse at Spanish music festival

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One person died and 17 have been injured, three of them seriously, after a stage collapsed at a music festival near Valencia, Spain, according to local officials.

Disaster struck at the Medusa Festival in the town of Cullera near Valencia at 4.18am on Saturday (12.18pm on Saturday AEST) "due to a strong gust of wind," they said.

Early on Saturday morning, organisers announced the festival had been suspended.

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"Due to inclement weather occurring in the early hours of August 13, 2022, and with the aim of guaranteeing the security of the concert-goers, workers and artists gathered at the Medusa Festival, the festival organisation suspends its activity for the time being," festival management said on Instagram.

"The festival site is cleared as a preventative measure with the aim of facilitating the work of the emergency and security services at the Medusa Festiva," it added.

Videos posted on social media early on Saturday showed strong winds and structures falling from the stage as large crowds of festival attendees were evacuated.

The Valencia section of Spain's national weather service (AEMET) said on Twitter that warm breezes were producing very strong gusts of wind and abrupt increases in temperature.

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Around 3am local time, the temperature was a blistering 40.5C at the Alicante-Elche airport, just south of the concert site, on the Mediterranean coast, with winds measuring 82km/h.

Temperatures have been soaring across Europe with droughts declared in several parts of England and wildfires in France.

Source: 9News