One person has been killed and dozens injured after high winds caused parts of the main stage at a music festival in Spain to collapse, officials have said.

Gusts of wind hit the stage at Medusa Festival, a six-day dance music event near the Spanish city of Valencia, in the early hours of Saturday, regional emergency services said.

About 40 people needed to be taken to the hospital, including three with serious injuries, regional health services said.

National weather agency AEMET said strong gusts of wind during the night reached 51mph at Alicante airport in the Valencia region.

“We are completely devastated and saddened at what happened this morning,” organisers said in a statement on the festival’s Facebook page.

They said the unexpected and “violent strong winds” destroyed areas of the festival at about 4am and that “extraordinary” weather conditions had caused damage to various infrastructure on the festival site.

Organisers added that the festival is suspended for the time being and that management was forced to vacate the concert area in the east coast town of Cullera, south of Valencia, for safety reasons.

National broadcaster TVE showed images of strong gusts of wind battering against people’s tents in the middle of the night.

Related posts:

Greek authorities offer £257k reward to catch killers who strangled British mother Fair dinkum – to be sure: Woman’s Australian accent goes Irish after tonsil operation Britons scramble to leave Portugal as UK flights doubled on last day before new quarantine rules come into force UK urged to boycott Beijing Olympics over Uighur Muslim ‘persecution’ Drought in East Africa puts millions at risk of severe hunger Russian billionaire’s £443m superyacht seized in Italy as part of global oligarch crackdown Protests after mayor of occupied Ukrainian city is ‘kidnapped’ by Russian forces Meet the people doing anything and everything they can for Ukraine’s victims Australian offshore processing designed ‘to dehumanise’, says artist who spent eight years in detention World’s largest recorded freshwater fish caught in Cambodia Israeli government collapses – raising possibility of Netanyahu returning to power Last surviving Battle of Britain pilot, 103, reunited with WWII fighter plane