

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Taylor Swift attends a premiere for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour in Los Angeles, California, U.S., October 11, 2023. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
By Marcela Ayres and Pilar Olivares
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – U.S. singer Taylor Swift postponed her present on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro as a consequence of scorching warmth, the day after the demise of a fan who fell ailing within the sweltering live performance venue.
“The choice has been made to postpone tonight’s present as a result of excessive temperatures in Rio,” Swift wrote on Instagram about two hours earlier than she was to go on stage. “The protection and well-being of my followers, fellow performers, and crew has to, and at all times will, come first.”
Ana Clara Benevides, 23, turned unwell on the Nilton Santos stadium throughout Friday’s present, occasion organizer T4F wrote on Instagram. She died later in hospital. Her explanation for demise was not but recognized and will probably be investigated, Rio’s state well being service stated.
Rio on Friday hit a file excessive of the warmth index, which mixes temperature and humidity, at 59.3 levels Celsius (138.7 levels Fahrenheit). On Saturday, the warmth index peaked at 59.7 levels Celsius (139.5).
Some 60,000 followers had gathered on Friday for Swift’s sell-out first live performance on the open-air stadium, located in a warmer northern neighborhood removed from Rio’s breezy seashores.
Swift was additionally scheduled to carry out in Rio on Sunday, adopted by three exhibits in São Paulo from Nov. 24 to 26. T4F stated Saturday’s present was postponed to Monday.
Swift followers exterior the stadium on Saturday have been struggling within the warmth as they waited to entry the present. As information unfold of the present’s postponement, many younger women burst into tears.
Throughout Friday’s live performance, a number of followers fell ailing, prompting Swift to interrupt her efficiency and request that the manufacturing crew present them water, movies confirmed.
Swift wrote on Instagram that she had a “shattered coronary heart” and was “devastated” by the demise of Benevides, who was “extremely lovely and much too younger.”
Nationwide Shopper Secretary Wadih Damous posted on X that the federal government had ordered T4F to ensure water entry in any respect of Swift’s live shows in Brazil. T4F stated that public our bodies prohibited coming into with water bottles, and that it was not concerned in promoting foods and drinks contained in the stadium.
Within the wake of Benevides’ demise, Justice Minister Flavio Dino introduced that the federal government would situation a directive permitting water bottles to be introduced into live shows.
“Firms producing exhibits with excessive warmth publicity should present free ingesting water in simply accessible ‘hydration islands.’ The measure is efficient instantly,” he added on X, previously generally known as Twitter.
Warmth exhaustion, which might embody dizziness, complications, shaking and thirst, shouldn’t be often critical, offering the particular person cools down inside half-hour.
The extra critical model is heat-stroke, when the physique’s core temperature goes above 105 levels Fahrenheit (40.6 levels Celsius). It’s a medical emergency and might result in long-term organ injury and demise.