On Wednesday, July 16, a large-scale fire broke out at the Tomorrowland festival grounds in Boom, Belgium, completely destroying the main stage — a central structure for the event set to begin on July 18, reports Baltimore Chronicle with reference to HLN and VRT NWS.
The incident occurred shortly before the opening of one of the world’s largest electronic music festivals, which was expected to host more than 100,000 visitors this year. The exact cause of the fire remains unknown. Sources cited by HLN suggest that a technical error during fireworks testing may have triggered the blaze, though neither festival organizers nor emergency services have officially confirmed this theory.
At the time of the fire, approximately 1,000 staff members were present on site. According to VRT NWS, they were all evacuated safely, with no injuries reported.
Tomorrowland has been held in Boom, Antwerp Province, since 2005. Over nearly two decades, it has grown into one of the world’s most iconic electronic music festivals. The future of this year’s edition is now uncertain due to the incident.
Earlier we wrote that Jamala gains voting rights in the Grammy awards.