6 The Woodstock Festival of 1999 was complete mayhem that recorded extreme violence of sexual assaults, gang rapes, fires, a gruesome heatwave, price gouging, and destruction of property. The event was ironically intended to be full of peace and love. 

Roughly, there were 400,000 people present in the town of Rome in New York, and the event was held on Max Yasgur’s farm. 

The violence began after the performance of Limp Bizkit. The fans started tearing down the plywood from the walls after the song “break stuff” was performed. 

The next night saw major violence of fires when Red Hot Chilli Peppers started their performance. Peace promoters by anti-gun organizers had distributed candles at the booth during the day and asked people to light them for a candlelight vigil when Guns N’ Roses were performing. However, people started making bonfires by lighting bottles and other stuff using fuel. The fire spread up to both stages. 

There was no infrastructural and safety planning. One thing led to another, and the water supply ran short, the prices of food rose heavily, and toilets overflowed. The security volunteers also started joining the crowds, abandoning their jobs.  

People witnessed gang rapes, infernos, and other violence during the event that was not reported until the aftermath. (1, 2)

7 On the joyous New Year’s Eve of 2009, the Santika Nightclub in Bangkok became the site of a lethal fire that killed 61 and injured 200. The reason behind the fatal accident is still a mystery.

The cause of the fire was unclear. Some clubbers say that it was caused because of fireworks brought by the guests, while others believed it was due to an electrical fault in the club.

Whatever the cause was, the deceased victims faced an unpleasant death. They were all bloodied and bruised when they were dragged out of the burning venue. 

The fire first appeared at the top of the stage where the DJ and the band were performing and spread all over the ceiling and other areas in no time. 

There was only one door for the audience for entry and exit, another one was only known to the staff. Since the crowd rushed to get out of the place, many were injured in the stampede. Still, most died of burns and inhalation of smoke. Some victims were burned so horribly that their bodies were unrecognizable. There were four Britons also involved in the casualties. (1, 2)

8 While performing, DJ Kaleb Freitas was hit in the head and died by the entry structure of the stage when it toppled on him because of the heavy rain and storms. It was during the Atmosphere Festival in Brazil on 17 December 2017.

The electronic music festival was held at Esteio City of Brazil near Porto Alegre. The stage suddenly collapsed because of the storm and killed the performing 30-year-old artist and injured three more people. 

Freitas had multiple head injuries, and before arriving at the hospital he died in the ambulance.

The organizers of the show held severe weather conditions responsible for what happened on the stage. One of the in-charge authorities mentioned that the tragedy could have been far worse. All the prior warnings from the authorities were ignored and the festival proceeded as planned. (1, 2)

9 In 2009, 11 Mawazine Festival attendees died when 70,000 others tried to jump over the fence to exit. The wire fence fell on those 11 people and caused a stampede. Meanwhile, more than 40 also were injured. 

The Mawazine Festival is held in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, for nine long days. 

The stampeding incident occurred when thousands of spectators were packed into the Hay Nahda Stadium to see singer Abdelaziz Stati in 2009. 

The concert was about to end, and the crowd surged towards one of the exits to leave early and brought down a wire fence in the process. The deceased individuals were only found later and consisted of five women, four men, and two children.

All of them died because of suffocation and injuries caused by the stampede. A dozen of other attendees were also critically injured and immediately admitted to hospitals. 

Everything started with just a group of young individuals who climbed over a stretch of wire fencing, the fence collapsed under their weight and caused panic in the crowd. (1, 2)

10 During the Love Parade’s techno music festival in July 2010 in Germany, 21 were killed as 500,000 attendees tried to squeeze through a narrow tunnel. It was the only access to the grounds where the event was held and the entry was blocked by the authorities.

The authorities and organizers didn’t let thousands of people through the tunnel, so the thousands of furious event attendees breached their way through the tunnel in the western city of Duisburg on 24 July. More than 500 were also injured besides the deaths.

The crowd was infuriated because the grounds opened approximately two hours later than scheduled, and there were no loudspeakers to control them. 

A total of ten organizers and administrators were held and accused of negligent manslaughter but were released because of a lack of evidence. 

After the tragedy, the location for hosting the event of Love Parade shifted first to Berlin and was later held in the outskirts of the capital. (1, 2)