A club in Bournemouth was evacuated on Saturday morning after a canister of suspected teargas was released.

Up to 40 people fell ill with coughing fits and itchy eyes and were treated at the scene by paramedics outside the Cameo club. One person was taken to hospital as a precaution.

Officers who were called to the incident in Fir Vale Road at 2am on Saturday said the clubbers complained of shortness of breath and stinging eyes.

"It was all pretty hectic," said eyewitness Jack Roffey, who also captured this video.

"Suddenly about 40 people or so people were looking very confused at each other including myself, holding our noses and mouths. There was a strong smell of a substance which did water up my eyes and burn the insides of my nostrils," he said.

"At first, we thought it was a stink bomb, but after a while, it was clear it wasn’t. The whole club was evacuated in about 5-10 minutes. All the emergency services were outside looking as confused as we were,” he added.

It was all pretty hectic. I was in the main room for Cameo Bournemouth, at the time when Yungen a famous music artist starting performing. Suddenly about 40 people or so people were looking very confused at each other including myself, holding our noses and mouths. There was a strong smell of a substance which did water up my eyes and burn the insides of my nostrils.

At the time rumours were going round saying that substance was potentially tear gas. Many people were seeking help from the paramedics as a result- one was taken to hospital as a precaution.



At first we thought it was a stink bomb, but after a while it was clear it wasn’t. The whole club was evacuated in about 5-10 minutes. All the emergency services were outside looking as confused as what we were.”