12 people hospitalised after the first day at Miami’s Ultra Music Festival

Miami’s Ultra Music Festival saw 12 people taken to hospital on the first day of the event, with other festival-goers arrested throughout the weekend.

Running since Friday, the festival had the Miami Fire Rescue Department evacuate 24 people on the first night as authorities claim that tens of thousands of people were “packed” into the streets of Bayfront Park.

12 of those were taken to hospital with Miami Fire Rescue Lt. Pete Sanchez informing Local10 that these people are expected to be “okay” and have no life-threatening issues.

After the first night - which saw the likes of Eric Prydz, Martin Garrix and Armin Van Buuren perform - Miami police arrested seven people for charges including, disorderly conduct, trespassing, possession of fraudulent credit cards and disorderly intoxication.

On day two of the festival, another seven arrests were made according to Miami Police officials.

It is estimated that 165,000 festival goers flock to Ultra each day with Sanchez explaining that this means that 100 firefighters will be on site “whether it be on foot patrol or bike patrol”.

According to Sanchez, crews have been positioned throughout the festival venue to help them navigate through large crowds in order to respond to any emergency.

Miami Fire Rescue also told Local10 last year 16 people were transported in a day from the festival.

“Considering that it was the first year back from the pandemic, last year was one of our safest years. There weren’t any major incidents, just minor incidents,” said Sanchez.

Last week, two people were fatally shot on South Beach with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis calling for a “surge” of more than 60 state troopers to patrol Miami Beach.

After this, Miami Beach has been taken to court over a liquor curfew and a curfew has been requested by the police chief and the city manager.

Becky Buckle is Mixmag's Video and Editorial Assistant, follow her on Twitter