Taylor Swift’s Brazilian concert promoters are facing a heartbreaking claim from the father of Ana Clara Benevides, the 23-year-old fan who died Friday at the singer’s concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Benevides’ father Weiny Machado, 53, told Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo that he wanted to clarify from organizers whether concertgoers on Friday would be banned from bringing water into the show.
“I want it to be found out whether they were actually forbidden to bring water or whether there was negligence in providing assistance,” Machado told the newspaper. “I lost my only daughter, a happy and intelligent girl. She planned to graduate next April with a degree in psychology and save money while doing so.
“I don’t have the words to express my pain. “She left home to fulfill a dream and came back dead.”
Ana Clara Benevides’ cousin, Estela Benevides, told the newspaper that Ana fainted shortly before her death on Friday while she was in the front row of the Estádio Nilton Santos in Rio de Janeiro for the performance in triple-digit temperatures 33-year-old Swift to see her Eras Tour.
The Latest: Taylor Swift’s Brazilian concert promoters are facing a heartbreaking claim from the father of Ana Clara Benevides, the 23-year-old fan who died Friday at the singer’s concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Swift was pictured on stage at the Estadio Olimpico Nilton Santos on Friday
Ana Clara Benevides was the 23-year-old fan who died at the singer’s concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday
Benevides’ father Weiny Machado, 53, told Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo that he wanted to clarify from organizers whether concertgoers on Friday would be banned from bringing water into the show
Ana fainted while sitting in the front row at Taylor’s show and was “resuscitated at the stadium for about 40 minutes” before suffering a second cardiac arrest on the way to a hospital, the newspaper reported.
Ana died shortly after arriving at a local hospital. The Spanish newspaper reported that the heat index in the stadium reached “60°C” – 140°F – and firefighters reportedly “counted a thousand fainting spells during the event.”
Fans filled social media with claims that they were banned from bringing water bottles into the stadium.
And in several fan clips posted online over the weekend, Swift was seen stopping her show several times to ask for water on behalf of her fans, who at one point called for refreshment.