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Ravers get hypothermia at snow-hit French techno festival
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Participants of the Teknival techno music festival listen to music as snow falls on May 4, 2019 in Feniers, central France.
(AFP/Pascal Lachenaud)
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round 30 people were treated for hypothermia at an outdoor techno music festival in France after unexpected snowfall left many ravers sheltering under survival blankets distributed by the Red Cross.
Around 10,000 people attended the unauthorized Teknival 2019 festival in the central Creuse region at the weekend, where temperatures dropped to -3 degrees Celsius (27 degrees fahrenheit) overnight on Saturday to Sunday.
Around 30 people were treated for hypothermia at the scene and two were taken to hospital, local officials told AFP, with the several centimeters (inches) of snow turning the festival camping experience into an endurance test.
Organizers put a heated tent on the muddy hill-top site, which belongs to the French military, and the Red Cross distributed 500 survival blankets to revelers at the scene.
Read also: Problems abound at LaLaLa Festival
Teknival is an unauthorized electronic music festival that is held annually at a secret location which is revealed only at the last minute.
French authorities had attempted to prevent this year's edition and police succeeded in stopping several trucks carrying sound systems from arriving.
Last year, to mark its 25th year, the festival was held at a military base in northern France. Organizers were accused by local conservation groups of disturbing a nearby nature zone and unsettling the local birdlife.
