The annual Beachfest party should be cancelled in the wake of mass drunkenness and brawls, one concerned spectator said last night.

And another warned that the event was a disaster waiting to happen, with a late night fight that threatened to spiral out of control.

One mom, who asked not to be named, said: “One of the persons working at the event shared with me and my friend that two ambulances were not enough to carry people from the event to the hospital and further shared that people had been using their private cars to transport drunk children to the hospital.

“The boy I saw curled up on the side when I arrived — too drunk to lift his head — was still there an hour later in the same spot.”

But she praised the police presence at the Thursday Horseshoe Beach bash for their hard work — although she said they should not have been expected to cope with the problems she witnessed.

The news came as police revealed that a total of 12 people had been arrested — for alleged offences varying from assault to pulling down the bikini bottom of a woman volunteer and fighting.

The woman added that the beach was littered with “thousands” of beer and hard liquor bottles, as well as other trash.

And she said: “In my opinion, Beachfest needs to be cancelled.”

Another onlooker added: “I saw police taking at least a dozen young people off the beach and out of the water because they were so drunk.

“The lifeguards spent a lot of time dealing with young people on the beach — the amount of alcohol consumed was incredible.”

The woman, who also asked to remain anonymous, said she estimated that there were at least 6000 people on the beach at Beachfest’s peak.

She added: “There were far too many people there and if something serious had happened, it would have been chaos. It’s an absolute recipe for disaster.

“The amount of drunk children I saw yesterday was a scandal.”

She added: “It’s the busiest I’ve ever seen it — and from very early in the morning and they were drinking then.”

And the woman said: “It looks unmanageable, something has to give. They might need to ban alcohol, but they need to come up with something.”

She added that the phone network was also overloaded, with friends and family unable to contact each other due to a lack of reception.

The woman said that a brawl that broke out around 9.30pm — after the official event run by organisers Chewstick had finished — could have sparked panic among the still large crowds partying on the beach in the dark. She added: “It looked like there were eight or nine arrests and some of them looked like they had suffered significant injuries.”

A police spokesman said two teenaged men were taken to hospital with wounds to their face — one a deep four inch slash. One of the men, a 17-year-old, was arrested in connection with the incident.

Another man was arrested for invading on the privacy of a female. The man allegedly stole the volunteer trash collector’s golf buggy and when she caught up with him, he allegedly pulled down her bikini bottom. Others were arrested for alleged offences ranging from possession of a controlled drugs, to affray, obstruction and offensive words.

No one from Chewstick could be contacted for comment last night and King Edward VII Memorial Hospital did not respond to requests for comment by presstime.