NCT 127 concert in Indonesia ended early after 30 fans faint amid pushing crowd
NCT 127’s concert in Jakarta, Indonesia yesterday (November 4) was ended early after 30 fans fainted amid a pushing crowd.
The concert at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) in BSD City had gone ahead with heightened security after police investigated a bomb threat made before the show. A bomb squad and K9 unit deployed to the venue detected no threat of explosives or explosive devices.
The Jakarta Metro Police also said they had identified and were pursuing a suspect alleged to have made the bomb threat. The concert – the first of two dates at the venue as part of NCT 127’s ‘Neo City – The Link’ world tour – was expected to attract 8,000 attendees, police said.
However, the show yesterday was halted after fans in the standing section began to push towards the stage. According to local police, 30 people fainted, CNN Indonesia reported.
A statement from the concert organiser Dyandra Global Edutainment said “concert [attendees in] the standing section appeared to go unorganized, which resulted in chaos and eventually led to the halt of the show for the sake of their safety.”
According to Dyandra Global Edutainment, no one was injured. “However, as we put the safety and security of the audience as our top priority, the halt of the show became inevitable.”
According to CNN Indonesia, NCT 127 became alerted to the crowd’s pushing while performing the song ‘Paradise’. Leader Taeyong is said to have stopped the song and the group began asking fans to “spread out”. Doyoung reportedly told the audience “safety is what’s most important. Let’s make a promise not to push,” per Soompi.
NCT 127’s second concert in Jakarta tonight (November 5) will go ahead, Dyandra Global Edutainment said, with “more paramedics and security personnel”. The promoter added: “We will continue to work closely with the local police and work as hard as we could to avoid any incidents from happening again. We also encourage tomorrow’s audience to maintain safety procedures during the event.”
Read Dyandra Global Edutainment’s full statement below:
Local police were on alert for overcrowding and had undertaken additional security measures at yesterday’s NCT 127 concert in Jakarta in light of the recent local music festival Berdendang Bergoyang, which was shut down early by police on its second day.
That festival, which took place the same weekend as the Itaewon crowd crush, reportedly saw over 20,000 attendees squeezed into a 10,000-capacity venue. The venue, Istora Senayan stadium, reportedly had only one tent dedicated to medical and emergency services for attendees across five festival stages.
According to Detik News, measures undertaken to prevent a similar situation at the NCT 127 show included a sensor system tied to ticketing to track the number of people entering the venue, as well as additional emergency exits and health posts. 250 law enforcement officers were also deployed to the venue.
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Karen Gwee
NME
