Two music enthusiasts from Andhra Pradesh who were visiting Goa to participate in the ongoing Sunburn Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festival died after collapsing near the venue in North Goa district.
A senior police official said that the duo, identified as Sai Prasad and Venkat, were taken to a hospital in Mapusa but were declared dead.
The two began to feel uneasy when they were standing outside the venue of the Sunburn festival at Vagatore beach village, waiting for the gates to open on Friday afternoon, 27 December, police said.
Speaking to reporters, Superintendent of Police (North Goa) Utkrisht Prasoon said that the incident occurred around 3 pm. They were taken to state-run Azilo Hospital in Mapusa town, where they were declared dead.
When asked if drug overdose could be the reason, a senior police official said, “Nothing can be ruled out. It can be a heart attack or drug overdose or anything. We can’t say anything until we have postmortem report.”
The police have registered both cases as unnatural deaths for now.
When one of the festival co-organisers Shailesh Shetty was contacted for comment, he claimed he was unaware of the incident.
“I do not know anything about it,” Shetty said.
Sunburn Klassique, a two-day EDM festival, got underway on Friday. This is the 13th edition of the music festival. Speaking to IANS ahead of the event, Sunburn CEO Karan Singh said that strict security measures were in place to prevent usage of drugs at the festival.
"We have a complete no drug policy... and we will have strict security at the venue to ensure no illegal activity happens. Regarding alcohol, we will make sure it will not be served to minors. In Goa, the lowest legal drinking age is 18 years... so we will work under proper rules and regulations," he had said.
(This article has been published in an arrangement with The News Minute)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)