The death toll¹ at the Pukkelpop music festival in Belgium, hit by a sudden violent storm, has now risen to five, say local officials.

比利时当地警方称，一场强风暴突袭Pukkelpop音乐节现场，死亡人数已上升至五人。

Staging collapsed², giant screens fell, tents were flattened³ and trees were uprooted⁴ in the space of minutes after the storm struck.

Dozens more people were hurt, several seriously.

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme has sent his condolences（慰问，哀悼） to the families of the victims.

Reports say organisers have now decided⁵ to cancel the rest of the event.

"During the night, the fifth festival-goer died in hospital. I think that the organisation⁶ of Pukkelpop rightly took the courageous⁷ decision to stop the festival," Hasselt mayor Hilde Claes was quoted as saying on the website of De Standaard newspaper.

'End of the world'

About 60,000 people were believed to be at the event, one of Europe's largest outdoor festivals, when the storm hit. Headline acts this year were set to include Eminem, Foo Fighters and the Ting Tings.

"The sky suddenly turned pitch black and we took shelter waiting for the rain," said festival-goer Catherine Blaise, according to Le Soir newspaper.

"Then suddenly, there was a downpour. The wind blew violently. There were hailstones（冰雹） bigger than a centimetre falling... Trees toppled over.

"It was unbelievable, the end of the world," she said.

Within 10 minutes, the storm had turned the festival site into a scene of mud and destruction, reports said.

More than 20 ambulances raced to and from the site near Hasselt, some 50 miles (80km) east of Brussels. More-lightly injured people were being treated at a local sports complex.

Many festival-goers were inside tents which collapsed when the storm hit.

"It was mass panic," Laura Elegeert, 17, told AP news agency.

"People were trying to get out of this tent that collapsed by using their pocket knives and cutting holes in the fabric⁸."

Two cranes were brought in to try to lift the largest tent late on Thursday - which collapsed as the band Smith Westerns was playing - but the festival grounds appeared to be too swamped （泥沼状的）amped to allow them access, AP said.

It was the second consecutive⁹ year of tragedy for Pukkelpop. Last year, lead singer of the group Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, Charles Haddon, committed suicide at the event.

Five people were killed last week at a festival in the US state of Indiana, when a stage collapsed in high winds.