Pohoda festival in Slovakia cancelled after tent collapses, injuring 29

The Pohoda festival in Slovakia was cancelled mid-flight after one of its tents collapsed, injuring 29 participants.

Nearly 30,000 people attended the festival, which takes place near Trenčín airport in the north of the country.

According to Slovak spectatorStrong winds and a violent storm caused one of the festival’s large tents, the Aréna Slovenskej sporiteľne, to collapse with dozens of festival-goers inside. See footage of the accident below.

The festival’s chief physician, Jaroslav Vidan, confirmed that 29 people were injured in the accident on Friday evening (July 12). “Twenty-eight injuries were minor, mostly lacerations, and one injury was moderate, involving a hip fracture,” he said, adding that all the injured had been taken to hospital.

The festival confirmed its cancellation around midnight on Friday, writing on social media: “Based on the information available, the inspection of all structures could not be completed within 24 hours, making it impossible to continue with the festival program.”

“After carefully considering the time needed to inspect the safety of the festival structures, we have decided that we must terminate Pohoda 2024,” the organizers added.

The festival was scheduled to end on Saturday, with sets from artists including Nia Archives, Black Pumas, Ezra Collective, Mount Kimbie and LA Priest.

The weather had already disrupted the festival earlier on Friday, with performances by Morcheeba and Royal Blood not taking place due to safety concerns. The festival was suspended at 8pm, before the decision was made to close it four hours later.

Festival-goers had been warned not to stand near the tent poles due to the risk of thunderstorms, but it was believed many people were seeking shelter from the storm in the tent.

The Slovak bank Slovenská sporiteľňa, which sponsored the tent in question, paid for extra buses to take people off site, and some artists, including Fallgrapp, chose to forgo their salaries to help financially support the festival.

Slovak police also announced Friday evening that they had opened a criminal investigation into the tent collapse.

This is not the first time that such circumstances have struck the Pohoda festival: in 2009, two people were killed and dozens injured when a tent collapsed due to strong winds causing a storm.

The Laudauer-Weihnachtscircus company, which built the tent that collapsed that year, was charged with endangering public order and was forced to pay £28,000 in damages to the festival.