Fresh Island festival fire: Britons among thousands caught up in Croatia blaze
Footage shows a huge blaze taking hold on the outskirts of the music festival, leading to the venue being evacuated.
Tuesday 16 July 2019 13:26, UK
British tourists in Croatia have spoken of the chaos that ensued when a fire broke out at the Fresh Island music festival on Tuesday.
The venue, on the island of Pag in western Croatia, had to be evacuated after frightening footage showed a huge blaze taking hold on the outskirts of the festival.
Seb Hertz, 18, who arrived at the festival with his friends said he "straight away knew that it was serious".
He posted a video online in which he could be heard shouting "oh my god, it's chaos" as people tried to escape.
Police in Croatia said the fire took hold early on Tuesday morning, and was under control.
No one has been reported or injured and the cause of the blaze was not immediately known.
Scheduled to run from 15 to 17 July, Fresh Island describes itself as "the hottest urban, hip hop & RNB experience on the beautiful island of Pag".
Some of the big names billed include US rapper Tyga, and British hip hop acts Yxng Bane and Stefflon Don.
The festival has since been closed "for safety precautions".
Later on Tuesday, the festival sent a series of tweets saying: "There was a forest fire near to Zrce Beach last night. After being advised by the police and emergency services to evacuate due to heavy winds, we guided festival goers to the parking area near Noa Club which was a safe distance from the fire.
"The safety of fans is incredibly important to us and we worked with the emergency services to contain the fire over the following hours, transporting festival goers off site when possible and safe.
"The emergency services are still working to contain the remaining fire so we can't say just yet how this will affect today's beach performances. Rest assured we're doing everything we can to go ahead as planned to continue the parties.
"We would like to say a big thank you to all Fresh Islanders who were at the festival for being so patient and supportive of each other and for cooperating with security and emergency services during the fire to stay safe."
Fresh Island promised to share updates to festival-goers "ASAP".