Every festival-goer has experienced a tight squeeze in a crowd – but last night (Friday December 30), more than 60 people were injured and 19 hospitalised in a crowd crush at Falls Festival Lorne that attendees have called a "stampede".
The incident occurred when crowds began to head down from DMA's set at the Grand Theatre to watch London Grammar, who were about to play over at the Valley Stage. When several people slipped on the grassy slope on their way down, creating a bottleneck, unknowing crowd members further back began to push. As festival-goer Lucy Spry wrote on the Falls Facebook site:
"Once they went down, they didn't get up quick enough so we all start piling on top of them... the crowd just did not stop pushing but they couldn't see what was going on or hear us all absolutely screaming to stop pushing so it ended up hundreds of kids getting absolutely crushed!"
Nineteen people were hospitalised for injuries including head and facial injuries, rib, leg, hip and pelvic fractures and possible spinal injuries.
Other attendees have taken to the Facebook page to describe their experiences, with many criticising organisers for poor organisation of the site.
Falls responded with this Facebook post:
The page is also being flooded by messages from concerned parents who are unhappy with the response time from the email address provided. While all injured attendees are reportedly in a stable condition, poor phone reception has meant that families have had difficulties contacting their loved ones at Falls.