15 People Indicted for Their Roles in the Madrid Arena Catastrophe That Killed 5 Women

On November 1, 2012, 5 women were killed and several others injured during a Halloween party at the Madrid Arena in Spain, headlined by DJ, producer, and head of Dim Mak Records, Steve Aoki. After a sound malfunction caused a break in the show, a flood of people rushing towards the exits created a bottleneck in the crowd, and eventual stampede. The bottleneck was reportedly a result of the venue not having enough emergency exits.

According to a 2012 article by SPIN, local Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that the deceased injuries were due to "trauma by crushing, possibly having suffered a fall and being trampled." Steve Aoki cancelled a following Spanish gig in Bilbao that was planned for the month after the incident, and released a statement pertaining to the Madrid tragedy on his website.

Now four years after the initial incident, according to information gathered once again from El País, 15 people have been indicted for their roles in the catastrophe, and are part of an ongoing trial that began on January 12 of this year. Among those indicted is event promoter Miguel Angel Flores.

We will update this article as more information about the case is revealed.

Update [Wednesday, January 20th]: A previous version stated that Flores blamed Aoki for demanding the closure of the exits, based on information first published by Mondo Sonoro, who have since published a redaction. We will update this article as more information about the case is revealed.