Three-day Indonesian music festival Berdendang Bergoyang was cut short due to major overcrowding.
The Jakarta-based event was initially set to run from 28 to 30 October at Gelora Bung Karno stadium but local police shut it down on the second day, following multiple reports of fainting.
The authorities reportedly found that the organisers sold more tickets than the venue’s 10,000 capacity, ending up with a crowd of over 20,000 attendees each on the first and second days.
Initially, the event was only permitted to welcome up to 5,000 people per day, central Jakarta police chief commissioner Komarudin revealed. The police are currently investigating whether the organisers intended to sell passes that exceed what was granted in their permit.
Ticket holders will be refunded for the cancellations that occurred on the second and third days. Artists including Pamungkas, .Feast and Isyana Sarasvati were due to play the fourth edition of the festival.
“We will continue to evaluate and prepare maturely by following procedures and prioritising the safety of the audience”
“We deeply apologise for this incident,” reads a statement posted on Berdendang Bergoyang’s Instagram. “In the future we will continue to evaluate and prepare maturely by following procedures and prioritising the safety and security of the audience.”
Overcrowding was also the cause of two massive tragedies over the weekend, in South Korea and the Congo.
The former incident happened following the Halloween celebrations in Itaewon in Seoul on Saturday (29 October). It was reported that over 100,000 people gathered in the district, which witnessed the crowd crush that killed over 150 lives and injured more than 100 others. The country is currently in a period of mourning for its victims.
Meanwhile, in the Congo, 11 people died following a crush at an overcrowded stadium concert in the capital, Kinshasa. Two police officers were among the victims at singer-songwriter Fally Ipupa’s hometown headline show at the Stadium of Martyrs on Saturday.
The disaster comes just weeks after nine people died in a stampede at a rock music festival in Guatemala.
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