COPENHAGEN, July 6, 2007 (AFP) - Red Cross rescuers at the international Danish music festival in Roskilde on Friday warned the fuddled festival-goers about the risks of drowning due to heavy rain in the region. A great number of festival visitors from other European countries live in camping areas situated on the other side of the festival scenes where visitors have to cross flooded fields to reach their tents after the concerts late at night. "If you have drunk a little too much, which is often the case during festivals, and you then fall into the water, it might be hard to get back on your feet and therefore there is an actual risk of drowning," Lars Rasmussen, a Red Cross official, told radio news service RadioNyhederne. He urged the festival guests to be careful and to take care of each other. "If you see somebody fall, or someone in a bad posture, you have to help this person and call for the rescuers," he underlined.

The large amount of rain that has fallen in the region has transformed the 162,000 square metre (1.7 million square feet) festival area -- located 35 kilometres (22 miles) west of Copenhagen -- into a mud field immersed with big pools. The 37th edition of the largest north European music festival opened its gates late on Thursday afternoon. The festival lasts for four days and gathers almost 100,000 persons. The heavy rain that fell overnight Thursday inundated roads north and west of Copenhagen and caused serious traffic problems. Rain fell with similar intensity in the neighbouring southern parts of Sweden where some roads were also inundated and closed. One woman was found dead in her flooded car, but according to rescuers, quoted by the Swedish news agency TT, the cause of her death was not clear. sa/se/gk