will continue without the stage, adding that they are "focused on finding solu-tions". Nobody was injured in last Wednesday evening's blaze and experts are working to determine a cause. The electronic dance music festival is due to start on Friday, with 400,000 people expected to attend over two weekends.

Hundreds of artists, including David Guetta, Lost Frequencies, Swedish House Mafia and Charlotte De Witte are expected to perform. The local fire service has declared the site safe and a decision will now be made about whether to demolish the structure before the festival begins on Friday. The campsite, known as DreamVille, has opened and so far organisers say this weekend's event will continue. In its latest post on Instagram on Thursday, Tomorrow-land said: "It is impossible to put into words what we're feeling." It added that the Orbyz main stage "wasn't just a stage... it was living breathing world."

Organisers said that they had worked through the night to come up with solu-tions. A meeting was held with safety experts and members of local govern-ment on Thursday morning to discuss a contingency plan. The mayor of Rumst, just north of Boom, told local media that another meeting discussing more ideas for an alternative to the main stage would be held in the afternoon. "Cancelling the festival completely is the last thing we want to do," Jurgen Cal-laerts said. There are 14 other stages at the festival, all much smaller than the main stage.

The fire started around 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT) last Wednesday. Videos posted on social media showed thick grey smoke engulfing the stage. Some res-idents were evacuated as firefighters worked to stop the flames from reaching neighbouring homes and woodland. One employee who had been working on the site described "an apocalyptic scene" as the fire broke out. "We suddenly heard bangs and saw fire near the stage, a huge amount of fire," the unnamed individual told Het Nieuwsblad newspaper. "We were just putting the finishing touches on it. One more day and it would be finished. Four weeks of work... gone in half an hour." (BBC/Reuters