Officials in Rio de Janeiro have begun an investigation into the company behind Taylor Swift’s shows in Brazil. News of a probe into Time for Fun comes days after Ana Clara Benevides Machado, a fan of Taylor Swift, died before her show at Estádio Nilton Santos on Friday.
According to NBC News, the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro’s consumer delegations department is investigating the alleged “crime of danger to life or health” by the company.
The event organizers are expected to be called to testify and authorities have launched taking additional steps “to investigate the facts”, the outlet reported.
Brazilian newspaper Estadão explained that authorities are set to “investigate everything that fans reported, such as the structure of the place and the availability of water.”
On the day of Benevides Machado’s death, the temperature was 102 F, according to PBS.org. The heat wave forced Swift to cancel her Saturday performance due to the “extreme temperatures in Rio.”
The show was rescheduled to Monday, and the musician wrote that “the safety and well-being of my fans, fellow performers and crew has to and will always come first.”
While Benevides Machado’s cause of death has not been revealed, Time For Fun posted in a social media post written in Portuguese that the concertgoer had felt unwell at the venue and was attended to by first responders before being transferred to Salgado Filho Hospital, where she died.
While speaking to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, her father, Weiny Machado, said that he wanted clarification on whether fans were prohibited from taking water to the show after fan-captured videos showed Swift pausing the concert and asking for water to be brought to attendees.
He told the outlet, “I lost my only daughter, a happy and intelligent girl. She was about to graduate in psychology next April, saving money. I have no words to express my pain. She left home to fulfill a dream and came back dead.”
Time for Fun announced on social media before the postponement of Saturday’s show that water stations would have been provided at the stadium.
While sharing news of Benevides Machado’s death on her Instagram Story, Swift wrote that she was “overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it.”
She wrote, “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.”
