Man in his 20s dies at Boomtown Festival 2024 after “medical incident”

A man in his 20s has died at Boomtown Festival 2024, following a “medical incident”.

The report was shared by the police earlier this week, and confirmed that a festival-goer was transferred to a hospital from the Winchester site on Saturday evening (August 10).

“Police were notified of a reported medical incident onsite at Boomtown Fair which occurred between 8pm and 9pm on Saturday 10 August,” a police spokesperson said (via Hampshire Chronicle). He was later pronounced dead in the early hours of Sunday.

In the statement, the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary confirmed that the death was “unexpected”.

At time of writing, further details about the victim and the circumstances surrounding his death remain unknown, although more information is expected to be shared in coming days.

“With sadness, we confirm a man in his 20s died on the evening of Saturday 10 August after attending Boomtown,” said a spokesperson for the festival in a new statement (via BBC).

“Our thoughts are with his family, friends and all those who knew him. We are supporting the police with their inquiries, and with respect for his family, no further comment will be made.”

The 2024 edition of Boomtown marked its 16th year and saw over 60,000 people attend. It took place between August 6 and August 10, and was hosted in its usual site at the Matterley Estate in the South Downs National Park.

This year’s edition of the festival saw performances from the likes of rapper Ghetts, rock band Pendulum and the 2023 Mercury Prize-winning band Ezra Collective.

In other news around Boomtown, earlier this year the festival said it would be “blacklisting” people after receiving “hate speech” comments to a post supporting the LGBTQIA+ community.

“The kind of negativity we saw on Saturday goes against everything we stand for at Boomtown. We were angered and saddened by the hateful comments. There’s no place for that here,” a statement read.

“We have a zero tolerance for any type of hate speech and our team swiftly removed the offensive comments and blocked the accounts. Unfortunately, further comments required us to disable comments entirely to protect everyone.”

Last year’s Boomtown celebrated the festival’s 15th anniversary, and the only act confirmed ahead of the event was The Prodigy. Other names on the bill eventually included Loyle Carner, Cypress Hill, Peaches and Sister Sledge.