A woman has described the “absolute chaos” she found in the medical tent at the Boardmasters music festival when she tried to get help for a 16-year-old boy who was “delirious with pain” after being hurt in a crowd surge.
Ali Gaudion told Sky News her daughter had said the unnamed teenager, a friend of hers, “had been crushed and trampled on” at the event in Newquay, Cornwall on Friday night.
The boy said he was “near the front” for DJ Sammy Virji, when “loads of people came in, I was pushed and fell on my back, with my leg twisted. it was hyperextended.
“It was incredibly painful, and I couldn’t get up. There were people on top of me, and I was on top of other people.”
Ms Gaudion said they found the boy backstage where he was one of “dozens of kids on the floor, crying, screaming and fainting”.
They were told to take him to the main welfare tent, she said, but “no one knew” where it was and they were forced to “walk for hours carrying this boy”, who by that time was “delirious with pain”.
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She said security staff “weren’t letting people in [to the tent]”.
“It was absolute chaos. Doctors were saying ‘we can’t cope’,” she added.
She said she and other mothers there “noticed that it was filing up too fast. They were saying from the stage for people to stop pushing. Then we started hearing screaming.”
Sophie Davies, another mother whose son, Will Davies, stayed at the festival, said she “saw just a huge surge of kids running to the front… like a river of people coming in”.
She helped the same teenage boy as Ms Gaudion and searched for him after being told he had been hurt.
Once they found him, a stranger “saw he was in pain and offered some paracetamol, but there were no stretchers or ice packs or ambulances”.
A different mother told the PA news agency that her family attended the main stage for Tom Odell’s set, but it “started getting very, very crowded”.
“My husband stayed outside the barriers with our youngest but my older daughter wanted to [go] inside,” she said.
As it started to get busy, the mother said: “We couldn’t get out as there were still so many people streaming in.
“My daughter and I got crushed against the barriers so I heaved her up and over a barrier and then pulled myself out.
“My daughters were terrified. I’ve been to many festivals over the years – I’ve never seen one so overcrowded and with such poor and dangerous crowd control measure.”
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In a statement, Boardmasters said: “Following a crowd collapse at The Point last night seven attendees were transferred to hospital nearby for precautionary examination after presenting to our medical team. They have been treated for minor injuries and have all since been discharged.
“We have undertaken a multi-agency review and The Point stage has re-opened this afternoon.
“Our welfare teams are available 24 hours a day for any festivalgoers who would like a chat or support.”
It also flagged that concerned parents could make contact through the Boardmasters website.
Cornwall Police said a “small number” of people had been injured in a crowd surge.
Sammy Virji said he was “gutted” about his set at The Point being cancelled but “safety should always come first”.
In a post on his Instagram, he said crowd surges “can be very serious”.
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The capacity of the festival was increased to 58,000 this year, up 5,000 on the 2023 total after the county council approved a licence application submitted by BM Management in February.
It will grow further to 65,000 next year and 66,000 in 2026 as part of the plan.
Sam Fender is headlining on Saturday night and Stormzy on Sunday.
