UPDATE 01/01/17: Music Feeds has obtained exclusive footage of the crowd crush which occurred at the Victorian leg of Falls Festival in Lorne on Friday night.
ORIGINAL STORY: More than 60 people have been injured after a crowd crush at Falls Festival in Lorne last night.
Of those 60, NSW Police report that 19 have been taken to hospital with serious injuries although none are life-threatening.
Falls Festival organisers confirmed on Facebook that there was an incident during a crowd exit after DMA’s set in the Grand Theatre, as punters made their way to London Grammar in the arena.
As ABC report, those at the front of the crowd lost their footing causing a crush that left festivalgoers with injuries including leg, rib, hip and pelvic fractures. There are also reports of possible spinal injuries, however, specific injuries are yet to be confirmed.
“We have footage of the crowd crush tonight and my daughter was lucky to survive this horrific event due to small exits , late security intervention and the band set up of DMA FINISH which made stampedes of young people crushing others to get to next gig.. LONDON GRAMMER three small exits,” Lpu Jani commented on Facebook.
“My daughter pulled a young person from the crush who was unconscious and had stopped breathing and didn’t get ambulance crew or medic response for five minutes.”
Another on Reddit who was in the middle of “the bottleneck” described the scene at the time of the incident.
“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,” they wrote.
“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.”
They further said that there were at least five people unconscious and that they witnessed one “blue-faced” man receiving CPR.
“This could have been quite a tragedy and we are grateful that the outcome was not worse,” State Health Commander Paul Holman told ABC.
Many commenters on Facebook are attempting to reach friends and family who are at the festival, however, reception is poor. Falls Festival has set up phone lines next to the token booth in the main arena for people to notify others that they are ok.
Organisers have also let people on Facebook know that regular shuttles will be running from the festival site into Lorne town centre.
Entertainment was suspended in the Grand Theatre for the rest of the night where KLP, Just A Gent, Moonbase Commander and Generik were due to play. The stage will reopen today.
UPDATE 31/12/16 10:50am: Falls Festival organisers have taken to Facebook once more to confirm 60 people were “seen on site” after the crowd crush while a further 19 were transported from the site, although none were critical.
“We are heartened and thankful for the amazing work of our medical teams and staff who responded with such care and support to those affected and continue to do so for the remaining duration of the festival.”
Meanwhile, Barwon Health, a facility that treated injured punters said that four of the 15 patients they received have been discharged.
“The remainder will be admitted for further treatment and observation,” they wrote on Facebook.
UPDATE 31/12/16 12:15pm: Falls punters have spoken out about the “traumatic” stampede incident.
