New evidence in Future Music Festival 2014 tragedy suggests heatstroke, not MDMA, responsible for deathsFuture Music

New evidence in Future Music Festival 2014 tragedy suggests heatstroke, not MDMA, responsible for deaths

Following the cancelation of the final night of Future Music Festival in 2014 due to six deaths, many were led to believe that the passing of these attendees was inevitably caused by drug overdoses. Autopsies on the “virtually dried up bodies,” however — one of which reached 102°F — now serve as evidence that heatstroke was the culprit leading up to the deaths of the six festival-goers. 

As it turns out, two of the sixteen people transported to the hospital in critical condition did not test positive for any illegal substances — a direct contradiction to officials’ claims that each of the deaths were drug-related. With the evidence against them, it seems that authorities pulled the “drug overdose” card in order to put a stop to the three-day music festival (in addition to other concerts throughout Asia). 

“Generally, the police did not show much interest in the reports. Unfortunately, they made statements without proper scientific reasons, which is not the right way,” explains Dr K. Nadesan, forensic pathology department head at University Malaya Medical Centre. 

While ecstasy and/or MDMA were found in some of the autopsies, Dr. Nadesan says that levels were much lower than average recreational use: “The autopsy and clinical findings were not on par with drug overdose. The police had no grounds to say it was. It was a wrong assumption.”

Dr. Nadesan goes on to explain that a mixture of “choking haze, high humidity, 35°C temperature” and lack of sufficient fluids each played a role in Future Music Festival’s 2014 tragedy. Though drugs may have helped facilitate the victims’ multiple organ failures, reports show that they were in no way the direct cause.

The new evidence begs the question: were police and clinicians at fault for wrongly assuming the extent of ecstasy and MDMA’s role in the deaths of six festival attendees? 

Via: The Star

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