Photo: Press
The first leg of Australia’s notoriously rowdy music festival, Stereosonic, took place in Sydney over the weekend and the excess took a tragic turn. A 25 year old woman, Sylvia Choi, from Sydney passed away after consuming a mixture of party substances. Another woman, who is believed to be from the UK, is in an induced coma.
The tragedy has led Queensland politician Anastasia Palaszczuk to make the very noble call for drug-testing kits to be made available outside music festivals.
Meanwhile ambulances were overwhelmed by the 120 people who had to be treated for drug related illnesses as the audience of 48,000 people pushed their bodies to the absolute limit while dancing to the likes of Major Lazer and Duke Dumont.
With such a high-octane spirit in the air the police were also kept busy by numerous drug offences. 69 people were charged with supply, whilst 57 were charged for MDMA possession and one for LSD.
Stereosonic continued in Perth last night and will be in Melbourne and Adelaide and Brisbane on 6 December. Let’s hope they manage to party safely and a tragedy like this doesn’t reoccur.
