Hundreds Hurt at Music Fest as Boardwalk Plunges Into Sea

It was the final performance of a three-day music and urban sports fest, wrapping up Sunday in Vigo, Spain, but it ended with people plummeting into the sea, blood, and panic. USA Today reports a 130-foot-long portion of a boardwalk collapsed around midnight, sending hundreds into the waters beneath. A regional health chief tells local TV that 313 people were injured, mostly with bruises, per the Telegraph. Officials say five people sustained serious injuries, including head injuries and broken bones, but are expected to recover. "It broke and we all fell," one attendee told a Spanish newspaper. "People fell on me. I had trouble getting out. … A boy gave me his hand and I got out. I felt paralyzed and I left. There was a girl with blood on her head."

A video emerged on social media that appears to show the immediate aftermath of the collapse, with people shouting and trying to pull each other to safety. Vigo's mayor, Abel Caballero, told reporters "the causes have yet to be determined" and that it didn't appear anyone remained trapped under the debris, per the Telegraph. But the head of the city's port authority told a local radio station it was likely "excessive weight" that caused the boardwalk, held up by concrete pillars, to give way, and that there may have been structural issues, USA Today reports. One witness account lends credence to the theory of too many spectators. "There were loads, I mean loads of people," the witness tells RVTE, via Reuters. An investigation is underway, Caballero says. (More Spain stories.)