The AXE Ceremonia festival in Mexico City was cut short this weekend after a crane collapsed and killed two photographers.
The incident occurred around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday during Meme Del Real (of Café Tacvba)’s set. A large gust of wind caused a crane holding a decorative metallic object to fall on two photographers covering the event, now confirmed to be Miguel Angel Rojas and Berenice Giles. According to local authorities, the two “received pre-hospital care at the scene, and were later urgently transported to the hospital, where they unfortunately passed away.”
While the festival carried on throughout Saturday despite the tragedy — including performances from Charli XCX and Tomorrow x Together — the festival organizers and local mayor opted to suspend Sunday’s activities, which was set to feature performances from Tyler, the Creator, Massive Attack, The Marías, and more. Neither the local authorities nor AXE Ceremonia have provided details as to what led the crane to collapse, nor why they kept the event going on Saturday as normal; the festival did, however, release a statement confirming the accident on Saturday evening.
“With deep sadness, we confirm the passing of the two people who were injured during today’s incident,” AXE Ceremonia said in a statement. “We are deeply heartbroken by this loss. We are reaching out to their families to support them during this incredibly difficult time and to provide them with all our care and solidarity. The safety of our community has always been our priority, and we continue, as from the very beginning, to maintain close collaboration and complete transparency with the authorities.” The festival released a statement on the incident and cancellation to Instagram, and announced that refunds would be issued to festival goers automatically.
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The local mayor’s office also confirmed the day’s cancellation, saying,“The teams from the Miguel Hidalgo Government and Legal Affairs, along with the borough’s Civil Protection department and the Administrative Verification Institute of Mexico City, completed the inspection and placed suspension seals at the entrances to AXE Ceremonia in Bicentennial Park. Therefore, the event this Sunday, April 6, is suspended.”
In light of the tragedy, several members of the press and creative community created a makeshift memorial in tribute to Rojas and Giles near the festival grounds (as captured by photographer Franco Emmanuel above).
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