Chaos at Sziget after Imagine Dragons concert: it took 90 mins to exit the island

“It was a horrible experience”, one of the participants recalled to Szeretlek Magyarország, a Hungarian news outlet, after she finally escaped from the crowd waiting to get out from the Hajógyári Island, the festival’s venue.

On Friday, Sziget Festival presented Imagine Dragons, and the concert attracted a massive crowd. Here are some photos and a video:

Arrival went swimmingly. It was a good decision from the organisers to allow people to enter from the other side of the island instead of the K bridge. Thus, no queues or crowds were built up, Szeretlek Magyarország wrote.

However, leaving the venue was a real nightmare even for those who stayed hours after the main concert before heading home. At 1 AM, for example, a large throng was waiting anxiously to exit the island. Check out the photos by tapping on the link above. Unfortunately, we cannot share them in our piece.

Inadequate information provided by Sziget?

Security staff placed a cordon on the path leading to the K bridge. They wanted to block the K bridge that was already crammed with people. The result was that the large crowd instead gathered on the island. Many times it seemed the slow flow of the people would never cease as 20-30 visitors tried to get through the narrow gateway at the same time, even though it had a capacity for only four people. Many festivalgoers complained on the official Facebook page of the Sziget Festival that they received no information during the night.

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“It took more than an hour to get out. Meanwhile, we got no information. Luckily, most of the people in the crowd were chill. Beyond words”, a visitor posted on Facebook. Another one said that nobody knew where the cordons were, and most people did not understand why they could not exit through the K bridge. That made the crowd restless. If there was a case of emergency, surely there would have been injuries and even deaths, another user added. A fourth person said it took more than 90 minutes to get out. “I am grateful I did not have to go to the toilet”, another wrote.

Sziget Festival warned the participants on Facebook in English that exiting the island at night might take longer than expected due to security reasons. However, most of the people must have have dismissed it or failed to understand it.