Taylor Swift fan cools off with a bottle of water amid a heat wave before The Eras Tour concert outside Nilton Santos Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Nov 18, 2023. Photo: AP
Rio de Janeiro's police said on Friday they have opened an investigation into the organisers of the Brazilian leg of Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour for the death of a 23-year-old fan who fell ill at the show last week. The police will investigate whether entertainment firm Time for Fun (T4F) committed the crime of endangering human life or health.
Fans and concert-goers said they had been banned from entering the venue with bottles of water despite the extreme heat in the city which hit 59.3 degrees Celsius (138.7 degrees Fahrenheit) on the day of the event.
Ana Clara Benevides fell ill last Friday, on the first night of Swift's Rio tour in Rio, and later died in hospital. The extreme weather led the pop star to postpone her concert the following day, just two hours before she was to go on stage.
"The organisers of the event will be called to give evidence and further investigations are underway to ascertain the facts," Rio's civil police said in a statement.
Police have also launched a separate investigation into the cause of Benevides' death, which has not yet been concluded.
T4F said the company and its representatives were cooperating with the authorities and available for any clarifications.
The firm's CEO Serafim Abreu acknowledged on Thursday that the concert organisers could have taken "alternative actions" to help fans cope with the extreme heat. Swift will conclude the Brazilian leg of her tour with three sold-out shows in Sao Paulo from Nov. 24 to 26, which are also organised by T4F.
Weather forecasters say those days are set to be cloudy, rainy and have milder temperatures. - Reuters
