A survivor of the crowd crush at the Falls Festival in Lorne, Victoria, has described the terrifying moment he thought he would die. Tim Hunt, 29, was among 19 people seriously injured when a slow but inevitable crush occurred as crowds exited the Grand Theatre tent after a performance by Sydney band DMA's on 30 December.
Hunt, who was at the bottom of the pile, compared the experience to being caught in a riptide. He said the crowd funnelled through an exit narrowed by a new bar, causing people to trip and fall like dominoes. 'You stopped struggling. A lot of people did. It's just sort of, 'Oh well, this is it.' You didn't think you were going to come out of it,' he told Guardian Australia.
More than 80 people were injured in total, with 60 treated for minor injuries on site. Hunt suffered severe gravel burns that wore through muscle to the bone, requiring surgery and skin grafts. He described hearing bones snapping as people struggled to breathe. The incident has drawn comparisons to the 2001 death of Jessica Michalik at the Sydney Big Day Out festival, which led to safety reforms.
Falls Festival co-producer Jessica Ducrou apologised and promised an investigation, citing the event's 24-year safety record. However, organisers faced criticism for their initial response, which told patrons to 'stay calm and be very patient'. Police are also investigating alleged sexual assaults at the festival's Tasmania event in Marion Bay.
