Scary scenes from Belgium, where a huge fire has broken out at the site of the Tomorrowland dance music festival, which is set to kick off tomorrow (July 18).
Video footage from the scene shows emergency services working to extinguish the blaze at the festival, which is one of Europe’s biggest, attracting up to 400,000 guests. The fire appears to have completely burned down the main stage.
Residents of Boom - the town close to Antwerp near where Tomorrowland takes place - were advised yesterday to close their windows and doors to avoid smoke inhalation. It is thought that the blaze started when fireworks that were part of the festival’s production were being tested, though this has not yet been confirmed by the organisers.
The good news is that no one was injured in the fire. Tomorrowland put out a statement this morning saying that the festival’s campsite would be opening today (the 17th) as planned. They confirmed that the main stage has been destroyed but “we (are) working on possible solutions for the Mainstage area. No other parts of the festival venue, stages or areas were impacted.”
Tomorrowland was founded in 2005 and has since grown to become one of Europe’s biggest celebrations of techno and dance music. At the time of writing it looks as though this year’s event is still going ahead - despite the lack of a main stage - although ticket holders would be advised to check the Tomorrowland website here for further developments.
