CNN
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A few days before the opening scheduled for Friday, it consumed a major stage at Belgium’s world-famous Tomorrowland Festival.
“Our beloved main stage has been severely damaged due to serious incidents and shootings at Tomorryland Mainstage,” the festival organizers said in a statement Wednesday evening.
“We can confirm that no one was injured during the incident.”
In the video, there was a thick plume of black smoke rising from the festival grounds in the Belgian boom on Wednesday. You can also see and hear fireworks going far.
According to Belgian public broadcaster VRT, the festival’s main stage is almost completely burned out.
Although there were no participants at the festival at the time of the fire, about 1,000 staff members were present, they are now evacuated, VRT reported.
The Electronic Dance Music Festival was scheduled to open on Friday.
Organizers said in a statement that the site’s “Dreamville” campsite would open Thursday as planned and “focused on finding solutions for the festival weekend.”
Morgan Elmans, who lives near the festival site, told CNN on Wednesday that she had first heard the fireworks depart, so she started looking outside. “It was a bit scary because there were big clouds of fireworks and smoke close to us,” she said.
“This is one of the biggest events of the year. Our town is so small that it’s very small to welcome people from all over the world. It’s crazy and so much fun. Big things are big things.
Local police confirmed the fire in X’s post and encouraged people to leave the smoke and give way to emergency services.
It is unclear how the fire began, VRT reported.
Majlie de Puy Kamp from CNN contributed to this report.
