Injuries after 'crowd surge' at music festival

Several people have been injured after a crowd surge at a music festival in Newquay, the police have said.

Devon and Cornwall Police said it had been notified of a crowd surge at Boardmasters music festival, which it said "left a small number of attendees injured".

The force said the injured people were either being treated on-site by medical staff or had been taken to hospital to be checked over.

It said none of the injuries were considered serious.

"This is an isolated incident and the festival continues," it added.

A Boardmasters spokesperson said: "We can confirm that Sammy Virji's set was cancelled and that The Point stage was closed to allow onsite teams to respond to an incident in the audience.

"No serious injuries have been reported and the pit and medical teams immediately assisted those involved.

"Safety is our number one priority and we thank Sammy and our audience for their understanding. All other stages have been unaffected and performances continue as planned."

But, one festival attendee described the experience as "terrifying".

A 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," she said.

"I warned the security guards again that there was a big problem brewing. Nothing seemed to be done... There was no security stopping people."

She said her family remained at the festival for another few hours before deciding to leave.

The mother said: "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."

DJ Sammy Virji said he was "gutted" about his set being cancelled but "safety should always come first".

In an Instagram post he said: "I'm incredibly gutted about the stage cancellation for Boardmasters, whilst I'm absolutely honoured at the amount of people who turned up, crowd surges can be very serious and safety should always come first.

"The stoppage was completely out of my hands and hope you all understand the festival needed to prioritise everyone's wellbeing. Hopefully catch you all soon at another set."