A forensics report obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday shows that heat exhaustion was the cause of death for a Brazilian fan who attended a concert of singer Taylor Swift in November. Ana Clara Benevides, 23, collapsed during Swift’s performance of the song “Cruel Summer” in the Nov. 17 concert in Rio de Janeiro and passed away at a local hospital a few hours later. Rio’s temperature that day was around 40 degrees Celsius (105 Fahrenheit).
Many of the over 60,000 fans attending the concert at the Nilton Santos Stadium accused the organizers of failing to provide enough water supplies. They also claimed that they were not allowed to bring their own water into the stadium. The report from Rio’s Forensic Medical Institute stated that Benevides’s exposure to heat led to a respiratory and cardiac arrest. Additionally, the report confirmed that she did not have any preexisting conditions or substance abuse that could have led to her death. It was also noted in the report that she had suffered a “serious compromise of her lungs” and had died suddenly due to the extreme heat.
Organizers T4F defended themselves, saying they had followed all best practices, complied with every authorities’ demands, and distributed thousands of bottles of water to fans. They also denied allegations that they did not allow people to bring their own water to the concert. Nevertheless, the company said it is shocked by Benevides’s death and has been involved in the business for 40 years without having registered a tragic episode like this before.
The death of Benevides has sparked a criminal investigation by the office of Rio’s public prosecutor. Rio police have stated that representatives of the company organizing the event will be called to testify after the forensics report is analyzed. This incident left many people in Brazil shaken, and Taylor Swift also expressed her sadness on Instagram. She described the experience as leaving her with a “shattered heart.” Benevides’s father, José Weiny Machado, was quoted telling a news website he “never doubted the cause of death was the heat.”