Around 25 people were injured when a freak storm hit the site of a music festival in Venice on Friday. The Heineken Jammin Festival was called to a halt when sudden strong winds caused sound towers and stage scaffolding to collapse. A number of trees on the site were also uprooted and several vehicles overturned.
According to Venice Mayor Massimo Cacciari around about 25 people were injured by the havoc caused by the extreme weather, although only 19 were admitted to hospital, and only one of them with serious fractures.
Organiser Roberto De Luca quickly announced that the rest of the weekend festival was being cancelled after the storm, meaning sets by the likes of Aerosmith, The Smashing Pumpkins, Incubus, My Chemical Romance, The Killers, Linkin Park and headliners Pearl Jam were all canned.
Pearl Jam, who are no strangers to potential tragedies at music festivals, having been on stage when nine people were killed after a tragic crowd surge at the Roskilde Festival in 2000, told reporters this weekend that they were "grateful" that no one had been seriously hurt in Friday's incident, saying: "We're told that there are no critical injuries and for that we are grateful. Our hearts and thoughts are with all of you in Venice".