The father of Ana Clara Benevides Machado, the Taylor Swift fan who died before the debut Eras tour concert in Brazil, has broken his silence on her death.
‘I lost my only daughter, a happy and intelligent girl’ Little Machado told the local newspaper Folha de São Paulo on Saturday, November 18. “She was about to graduate with a degree in psychology in April, which would save her money. I have no words to express my pain. She left home to fulfill a dream and came back dead.”
Ana Clara died at the age of 23 prior to the concert on Friday, November 17 in Rio de Janeiro. Her death was confirmed on Saturday by concert organizer Time for Fun (T4F).
“Last night, Ana Clara felt unwell and was immediately attended to by the team of firefighters and paramedics, who were taken to the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos. [on-site medic] for first aid protocol,” said a Saturday statement on T4Fs X (formerly Twitter) page read in Portuguese. “Given the situation, the medical team opted to transfer her to Salgado Filho Hospital, where she unfortunately passed away after almost an hour of emergency care.”
A cause of death has yet to be confirmed, Machado said Folha de São Paulo that he wants local officials to investigate.
Taylor Swift performs on stage at Arrowhead Stadium on July 8, 2023 in Kansas City.
Fernando Leon/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management“I want it to be investigated whether they were actually prohibited from bringing water, whether there was negligence in providing assistance,” he said, referring to reports that the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santo did not provide water to attendees during the record-breaking events. heat wave.
Machado added: “I know the singer handed out water to her fans, and that is absurd for an event of this magnitude. 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”
Swift, 33, for her part, was “devastated” by Ana Clara’s death.
“I can’t believe I’m writing these words, but it is with a broken heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight, before my show,” the Grammy winner wrote in an Instagram Story statement. “I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this. There is very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and way too young.
She continued, “I can’t talk about this from the stage because I feel overwhelmed with sadness when I even try to talk about it. I want to say now that I feel this loss deeply and my broken 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.
During Swift’s Friday show, she paused her performance several times to make sure concertgoers got water after they started chanting “agua.” She postponed her next show on Saturday due to the city’s “extreme temperatures” and will take the stage again on Sunday, November 19.Eduardo Paesthe mayor of Rio, announced that the postponed show will take place on Monday, November 20, although Swift herself has not confirmed the news.)
After Ana Clara’s death, T4F changed stadium guidelines to distribute free water bottles to visitors at various distribution points. Fans can also bring in glasses of water and processed foods, as long as they are closed with a lid.