The main stage at Tomorrowland festival in Belgium has been “severely damaged” in a huge fire.
The annual festival in the town of Boom, north of Brussels, which is scheduled to start on Friday, draws tens of thousands of visitors from around Europe.
Images shared on local news sites and social media showed flames and plumes of black smoke engulfing the stage and spreading to nearby woodland. Nearby residents had been urged to close all windows and doors until the fire was under control.
One employee at the site described “an apocalyptic scene” after the fire engulfed the stage.
“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.”
At least three-quarters of the spectacular stage is believed to have been damaged.
“Due to a serious incident and fire on the Tomorrowland main stage, our beloved main stage has been severely damaged,” the organisers posted on the event's website.
“We can confirm that no one was injured during the incident.”
The statement said the focus is now on “finding solutions” for the festival weekend. The cause of the fire has not yet been confirmed.
“We can announce that, DreamVille will open tomorrow as planned and will be ready for all DreamVille visitors,” they added.
“All Global Journey [travel package] activities in Brussels and Antwerp will take place as planned.”
Dozens of emergency teams were seen rushing through the festival grounds just after 6pm in an attempt to extinguish the flames and evacuate those inside the grounds.
There were no members of the public present at the time, but around 1,000 staff members were working on site.
Some of the world's most popular DJs are due to appear on the stage over the weekend, including Martin Garrix, David Guetta, Fisher, Swedish House Mafia and Steve Aoki.
Back in 2017, the festival had to evacuate over 22,000 people after a major fire. The crowds at Barcelona's Tomorrowland Unite were forced to flee just hours before Steve Aoki was due to headline the event.
Watch: Huge fire engulfs main stage at Tomorrowland
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