More than 300 people hurt, nine seriously, as old concrete and wood structure gives way

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

More than 300 people have been injured, nine of them seriously, after a wooden platform collapsed during a music festival in Vigo in north-west Spain.

The incident happened close to midnight as the Mallorcan rapper Rels B was about to begin his performance at O Marisquiño festival. Most of the injuries were fractures and head wounds as festivalgoers fell several feet to the ground. Some fell into the sea.

Alicia Ulloa, 19, who was at the festival, told the website El Confidencial: “Suddenly everyone disappeared and everyone was trampling on everyone else as they tried to escape.

“I was with a group of friends when the people beside us fell, as though something had dragged them down. It’s a miracle it wasn’t worse because the concert had just begun and lots of my friends hadn’t arrived yet.”

Marcos Rodríguez told the radio station SER: “People fell in the water, on rocks, on top of each [other], people bleeding. It was horrible. People were screaming and running.”

Rescue efforts continued throughout the night. Divers searched for people in the water and thermal imaging cameras were brought in to look for anyone trapped in the rubble. By Monday morning, everyone was accounted for.

The city’s mayor, Abel Caballero, said authorities were investigating the cause of the accident. Enrique César López Veiga, the president of the Vigo port authority, said there appeared to have been a structural failure in the 300 sq metre platform, which was built of wood and concrete.

Veiga said it was the concrete, rather than the wood, which gave way, adding that the structure was very old and it may prove difficult to establish who was responsible.

The people who were seriously hurt had not sustained life-threatening injuries, officials said.