The father of Ana Clara Benevides Machado, the Taylor Swift fan who died before the singer’s concert in Brazil, is seeking answers from the concert’s organizers.
Benevides Machado, 23, died ahead of Swift’s Eras Tour show at the Estadio Nilton Santos in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.One of the event organizers, Time for Fun, identified Benevides Machado as the fan who died on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Saturday. In the post, written in Portuguese, they said she had felt unwell at the venue and was attended to by first responders before being transferred to Salagdo Filho Hospital, where she died.
Benevides Machado’s father Weiny Machado, 53, told Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo he wants clarification on whether fans were prohibited from bringing water into Friday’s show. “I want to know if it’s true that they are prohibited from bringing water and neglected to provide assistance,” he told the outlet. “I lost my only daughter, a happy and intelligent girlShe was about to graduate in psychology next April, saving money,” Weiny continued. “I have no words to express my pain. She left home to fulfill a dream and came back dead.”
PEOPLE has reached out to Time for Fun for comment.
According to Folha de S.Paulo, fans at Swift’s Sunday show in Rio claimed that they weren’t given any water while waiting in line for the concert.The day before, the “Karma” singer had postponed her show in the city as a result of the extreme heat. “I’m writing this from my dressing room in the stadium,” Swift shared in a handwritten posted to her Instagram Stories on Saturday. “The decision has been made to postpone tonight’s show due to the extreme temperatures in Rio. The safety and well being of my fans, fellow performers and crew has to and will always come first.”
Time for Fun later confirmed in statement that the show has been rescheduled to Monday.Swift shared her devastation at Ana Clara’s death on social media. “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,” Swift wrote in a handwritten message posted to her Instagram Stories on Friday.
“I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this,” she continued. “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,” 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,” Swift concluded her heartfelt note.
