The father of a Taylor Swift fan who tragically passed away after attending the singer's concert in Rio de Janeiro has spoken out.
As reported yesterday, 23-year-old concertgoer Ana Clara Benevides died after spending hours inside the capital city's Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos stadium for Swift's show to begin.
Benevides' final tweets and social media posts expressed her excitement at finally having the chance to see the 'Bad Blood' singer live - however, the evening ended in despair after Benevides suffered a medical emergency prior to the show starting.
It was reported by the Brazilian newspaper Fohla De Sao Paolo that the 23-year-old concertgoer fainted and went into cardiac arrest in the stadium. After being treated by paramedics at the venue, she was transported to the Salgado Filho Municipal Hospital, where she then died of an apparent cardiorespiratory arrest - however, no official cause of death has been disclosed as of this writing.
Benevides's death came as fans in the stadium battled the blistering heat and humidity throughout the duration of Friday's show - as Rio de Janeiro hit a record high of the heat index at 59.3C, per Reuters.
Now, Benevides' father, Weiny Machado, has spoken out and called for answers about the circumstances that led to his daughter's passing.
Speaking to the Folha de São Paulo newspaper, a grieving Machado said: "I lost my only daughter, a happy and intelligent girl. She was about to graduate in Psychology next April."
"I want it to be found out whether they were in fact prohibited from bringing water, whether there was negligence in providing assistance."
Machado even spoke out about the now-viral videos showing Taylor Swift personally handing out bottles of water to fans who needed them.
"I know that the singer was handing out water to her fans, and that is absurd for an event of this size," the father said. "Nothing will bring my daughter back, but I hope that, if negligence is confirmed, someone will be punished, so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else."
The organizers behind the concert - Time For Fun (T4F) - shared their condolences following Benevides's death, writing in a statement: "Yesterday night, Ana Clara felt unwell and was assisted by a team of emergency workers and paramedics, being taken to a medical center at Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium so the first aid protocol could be applied."
"Given the situation, the medical team opted to transfer her to Salgado Filho Hospital. After nearly an hour of emergency assistance, she regrettably died," they continued, adding, "We send our most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Ana Clara Benevides."
However, following the allegations from those who attended Friday's show that people were prevented from bringing water into the stadium, T4F shared a second statement, providing updates on their rules and regulations for Swift's upcoming shows regarding water amid the surging temperatures.
"Given the forecast of an increase in the heat wave in the city of Rio de Janeiro, we inform you that we are reinforcing the special action plan carried out for the first day of the show, especially the provision of free water in the queues and at all accesses and entrances to the stadium and inside," they wrote, per Daily Mail.
"New free water distribution points will be available to the public during the event," they continued. "Entry to the stadium with sealed glasses of water and sealed processed food will also be permitted, with no limitation on items per person."
After backlash online, T4F clarified in their post that the requirement of "sealed items follows safety recommendations," adding: "We also emphasize that the prohibition of bottles of water entering stadiums is a requirement made by public bodies and that we do not sell drinks and food, this being the responsibility of the stadium administration."
The entertainment company said that service staff would also be reinforced with 200 extra employees in addition to the 1,230 already working the event.
"In addition, the medical care structure was reinforced, totaling 8 available medical stations, 8 ambulances, and 8 mobile ICUs," they finished.
Swift has since issued a heartbreaking statement on Instagram expressing her devastation at the loss of one of her fans.
"I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this. I can’t believe that I’m writing these words, but it is with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show," she wrote. "There’s very little information I have, other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young," she continued.
"I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my broken heart goes out to her family and friends," the singer said, adding that this was the "last thing I thought would happen when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil."
Our thoughts continue to go out to Benevides' family, friends, and loved ones at this time.
