A 26-year-old NSW man has died at the Defqon.1 music festival, held in Sydney’s Penrith over the weekend, with eight other attendees hospitalised.
The man was found unconscious in his tent at 11pm yesterday by friends who administered first aid before ambulances took him to Nepean hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A coronial investigation has begun to find out if the man had taken illegal drugs. Elsewhere in the Western Sydney festival, eight others were hospitalised, some allegedly for overdoses.
The hardcore dance, trance and techno festival has had a tough run since launching in Australia, with last year’s edition seeing 83 arrests for drug related charges and 2013’s festival also seeing a young man dying, overdosing on a mystery drug.
46 people were arrested for alleged drug offences at the festival, with at least two of them carrying upwards of 40 MDMA pills.
Defqon.1 2015 was headlined by Frontliner, Brennan Heart and Toneshifterz.
UPDATE 21/09/15: NSW Police have said the festival is not to blame for the 26-year-old man’s death or the drug arrests at the festival, with Detective Inspector Grant Healey remarking that, “Festivals and dance parties aren’t the problem, it’s people making poor adult decisions that are the problem.”
