Chaos Erupts at Ottawa's RBC Bluesfest Leaving 10 Festivalgoers in Hospital

Multiple attendees were hospitalized for sexual assaults, overdoses and falls during a wild night that featured Lil Yachty, Migos and Flume

BY Brock ThiessenPublished Jul 14, 2017

Ottawa's RBC Bluesfest experienced an especially chaotic night Thursday (July 13), with 10 festivalgoers taken to hospital — at least one for sexual assault — and 200 more assessed on-site by medical staff.

The news comes via Ottawa paramedics, CBC reports, who revealed in a statement that they were forced to call in additional staff after being "overwhelmed very early on in the evening."

Thursday's main headliners included Lil Yachty, Migos and Flume, and according to Ottawa paramedics, 10 festivalgoers were taken to hospital after suffering from trauma related to falls, as well as alcohol and drug intoxication. Among those, at least one person was also hospitalized after being sexually assaulted, in addition to one person having to be treated with Naloxone to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

If this all wasn't bad enough, six of the festivalgoers admitted to hospital were minors, said paramedics, who also had to handle at least 10 additional incidents outside festival grounds.

"At first the crowd wasn't that crazy, but the more you would go forward, the more people would just push each other and do mosh pits. It was just insane," 18-year-old Josh Michel told CBC. "Girls were falling everywhere. Some girls were crying, having panic attacks, saying they couldn't breathe. Just because some guys like to push each other and do these mosh pits."

Speaking specifically of the crowd crush during Migos, he added, "It gets to the point where you can't breathe," stating one of his friends actually had to be pulled out by security after feeling ill within the teeming masses of concertgoers.

Adding to all this, a security fence was breached on Thursday, with many then rushing into the festival grounds. You can watch a video of the incident below.

RBC Bluesfest will run until Sunday (July 16) at LeBreton Flats Park.

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