Fire engulfs main stage of Tomorrowland music festival
Tens of thousands of campers have arrived at Tomorrowland in Belgium, a day after a fire destroyed the festival’s main stage.
Festival organisers have insisted that the event in the town of Boom, south of Antwerp, will continue without the stage, adding that they are “focused on finding solutions”.
Nobody was injured in Wednesday evening’s blaze and experts are working to determine a cause.
The electronic dance music festival is due to start on Friday, with 400,000 people expected to attend over two weekends.
Hundreds of artists, including David Guetta, Lost Frequencies, Swedish House Mafia and Charlotte De Witte are expected to perform.
The local fire service has declared the site safe and a decision will now be made about whether to demolish the structure before the festival begins on Friday.
The campsite, known as DreamVille, has opened and so far organisers say this weekend’s event will continue.
Bradley Cooper-Barnard drove from London with three other friends.
“This is my fourth Tomorrowland and things definitely feel a little different,” he told the BBC.
“Dreamville itself feels very much subdued, there’s a bit of a sombre feeling around. In all of my previous years by this time of the day people are partying and there’s usually music everywhere – it’s quite quiet but a good amount of people around,” he said.
“We’ve got our tents set up and we’re going to have a great time come what may.”
Bradley Cooper-Barnard
Bradley Cooper-Barnard and his friends are determined to enjoy the experience
In its latest post on Instagram on Thursday, Tomorrowland said: “It is impossible to put into words what we’re feeling.”
It added that the Orbyz main stage “wasn’t just a stage… it was was living breathing world”.
Organisers said they had worked through the night to come up with solutions. A meeting was held with safety experts and members of local government on Thursday morning to discuss a contingency plan.
The mayor of Rumst, just north of Boom, told local media that another meeting discussing more ideas for an alternative to the main stage would be held in the afternoon.
“Cancelling the festival completely is the last thing we want to do,” Jurgen Callaerts said.
There are 14 other stages at the festival, all much smaller than the main stage.
Further details are expected to be released later on Thursday.
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The fire started around 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT) on Wednesday. Videos posted on social media showed thick grey smoke engulfing the stage.
Some residents were evacuated as firefighters worked to stop the flames from reaching neighbouring homes and woodland.
A police helicopter carrying water was also deployed to help extinguish the fire.
One employee who had been working on the site described “an apocalyptic scene” as the fire broke out.
“We suddenly heard bangs and saw fire near the stage, a huge amount of fire,” the unnamed individual told Het Nieuwsblad newspaper.
“We were just putting the finishing touches on it. One more day and it would be finished. Four weeks of work… gone in half an hour.”
Tomorrowland began in 2005 and has become the biggest electronic dance festival in the world, attracting music fans from every continent.