Spain boardwalk collapses during concert, leaves hundreds injured

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Boardwalk collapses during concert in Spain

Over 300 people were injured when the wooden boardwalk gave way.

Hundreds of people were injured after an oceanside boardwalk in Spain collapsed during a nighttime concert, police said Monday.

About 313 people were hurt in the collapse, at least five of them seriously, police said. Many young people were on the Vigo boardwalk when it gave way during the last concert of a three-day festival.

A police officer takes photos at the scene the day after an oceanside boardwalk collapsed, in Vigo, Spain. (AP)

The wooden boards holding the festivalgoers up over the sea cracked and people slid into the water below, emergency personnel said.

“We were all on the catwalk and suddenly everything opened, I fell on top of people and people fell on top of me,” an unnamed 16-year-old boy told Faro de Vigo, according to Sky News. “They hit me in the head, then a container fell, I tried to get out, someone helped me, I think.”

Police officers work at the scene the day after an oceanside boardwalk collapsed during a nighttime concert in Vigo, Spain. (AP)

A structural problem is believed to be the cause of the collapse, Vigo port authority president Enrique Cesar Lopez Veiga said. He told Spanish radio the boardwalk collapsed “probably because of excessive weight.”

Vigo Mayor Abel Caballero announced an investigation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.