When festivals cancel a day early or choose to close for a day in the middle of a festival, this is exactly the kind of tragedy they’re trying to avoid. This past weekend, Kalleby Freitas da Rosa, 30, was performing at Brazil’s Atmosphere Festival when the stage he was on collapsed due to extreme weather conditions – the forecast predicted “gale-force winds, and torrential rain.”
de Rosa was rushed to the hospital with head injuries, but died on arrival. Three others were injured in the collapse.
Atmosphere Festival was apparently warned of the weather conditions prior to the event and chose to still go on as planned. An investigation has been launched to determine culpability.
Atmosphere Festival issued a statement via Facebook yesterday evening:
“We always cherish the security of our audience, following all the processes, reports and authorisations requested by the local authorities. And to our audience we will keep them informed of all our actions to keep the truth about the facts that have occurred. We’re sorry, we lost a friend, an artist. Our priority is to assist the wounded and their families. We thank the military brigade and the fire department for all their assistance.”
via Resident Advisor