Taylor Swift has been on the international leg of The Eras Tour. On Friday night, she performed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the Nilton Santos stadium. Many fans fell ill due to the heatwave, with a heat index of 140° Fahrenheit, and one concertgoer died of cardiac arrest.
23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides fainted before Swift took the stage. She was taken to a medical station, and then transferred to the Salgado Filho Hospital. Fans are blaming the venue for banning water bottles, as well as for closing vents to prevent fans outside from watching. Swift stopped the show several times to ask security to get fans water; at one point, she chucked a bottle to a fan herself.
On her Instagram Story, the singer shared a statement on the death of Benevides, saying she is “overwhelmed by grief.” Read it in full:
I can’t believe I’m writing these words, but it’s with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show. I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this. There’s very little information I have other than the fact she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young.
I’m not going to be able to speak about this from the stage because I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it. I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my 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.
