A young man who lost his little finger at an illegal rave in Croydon on Saturday has claimed that he didn’t seek medical assistance as “the bass was hard.”

Thousands of people attended the party in a former Royal Mail delivery office in East Croydon on Saturday night (14th June) at which it has been reported that 15-year-old Rio Andrew was taken to hospital in the early hours of Sunday and died on Monday.

The young man who is now down to 9 fingers, known so far only as Josh, told VICE that he lost half of his little finger after a fire alarm went off in the room playing house music. “The fire alarm starting going off and everyone was like, “Rip it off! Rip it off!” So I thought I’d give it a go,” he said. “I was completely sober at the time. I jumped up, grabbed it and my little finger got caught in the case because it was all broken, and as I came to rip it back down, my little finger got ripped off completely.”

A number of arrests were made in relation to the rave – nine during the event and a further five since it ended on Sunday. Of the 14 arrests, two men have been charged with violent disorder and drugs offences. Other arrests made include charges of possessions of class A drugs, money laundering, violent disorder and criminal damage.