Heat exhaustion is the cause of death of a Brazilian fan who attended a concert of singer Taylor Swift in November, a forensics report obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday shows.
23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides passed out during Swift’s second song in the Nov. 17 concert in Rio de Janeiro, Cruel Summer, and died hours later at a local hospital. Temperatures in the city that day were at about 40 degrees Celsius (105 Fahrenheit).
Fans lined up for hours before the show, and many accused organizers of failing to deliver enough water supplies for the more than 60,000 attending the concert at the Nilton Santos Stadium. Concertgoers said they were not allowed to take their own water into the stadium.
The report by Rio’s Forensic Medical Institute said Benevides’ heat exposure led to a cardiorrespiratory arrest. It also said she did not have preexisting conditions or substance abuse that could have led to her death.
The forensics expert who analyzed her body said in the document she had “serious compromise of her lungs and sudden death” due to the heat.
One of Benevides’ friends, who also attended the concert, told local media outlets in November they had been given water while waiting to enter the stadium.
Organizers T4F did not immediately respond a request for comment from the AP. CEO Serafim Abreu said in a video days after Benevides’ death the company would change its protocols for events under extreme heat. He also said T4F would offer assistance to her family.
The office of Rio’s public prosecutor has opened a criminal investigation. Rio police said in a statement on Wednesday that after the forensics report is analyzed “representatives of the company organizing the event will be called to testify.”
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Benevides’ death shook many in Brazil. She had taken her first flight to travel from the country’s center-west region to see her favorite singer.
In a statement posted on Instagram after the death, Swift said the case had left her with a “shattered heart.”
“I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my broken heart goes out to her family and friends. This is the last thing I ever thought would happen when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil,” Swift wrote.
She later met with Benevides’ family at her concert in São Paulo, her final Eras Tour show in Brazil. In a photo, Swift stood beside Benevides’ loved ones, including her father, Weiny Machado.
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Benevides’ father Weiny told the local news outlet Folha de S.Paulo that his daughter was a psychology student who “left home to fulfill a dream and came back dead.”
“I lost my only daughter, a happy and intelligent girl,” he said in Portuguese. “I have no words to express my pain.”
Quickly after news of Benevides’ death broke, fans of the singer launched a petition to make water freely accessible in Brazilian concert venues. In only hours, the petition garnered over 150,000 signatures. Brazil’s federal authorities took note and announced that free water would be available at all future concerts.
— with files from Global News’ Sarah Do Couto
© 2023 The Canadian Press
