Some of us crashed at the end of the event. I didn't participate myself, but from IRC, I know that others crashed as well.
In essence, I was doing caravans, entire enc froze, so I suspected a server crash. I exited, waited for a bit, tried to relog few times, nothing happened. I eventually relogged, and found myself dead in the same encounter. Few other people on IRC experienced something similar. Other people spoke of major lag.
I don't care about lost gear, but keep it in mind the next time you do such event.