While it was initially reported that Ana had died before Taylor took to the stage, it was later said that she actually fell ill during the second song on Taylor’s setlist, passing out during “Cruel Summer.”
Ana Clara was taken to a local hospital but later died. Her cause of death is currently unconfirmed, but it is believed to be connected to the dangerous heat wave that was impacting Brazil at the time.
Fans waited for hours in the sun ahead of Taylor’s show, and venue rules reportedly banned them from bringing their own water bottles inside. In videos from the concert, Taylor can be seen requesting water for her fans, and at one point even threw a bottle into the crowd herself.
On Saturday, Taylor canceled her scheduled concert shortly before she was due to take to the stage due to the “extreme temperatures” in Rio.
And TikToker Derick Rilea, who also attended Friday’s Rio show, recently shed some more light on the troubling situation inside of the stadium as he shared his own experience from the concert.
In a video, Derick says that he suffered heat stroke after attending Taylor’s show as he detailed “the chaos” that began as soon as he got to the stadium when venue staff apparently didn’t know which gate his ticket allowed him entrance from.
As a result of the confusion, Derick ended up running around the large stadium trying to find the correct entry point himself. When he finally found the correct gate, he was prevented from entering until he threw away the two sealed 1.5 liter bottles of water that he’d bought especially because of the heat.
In the TikTok, Derick recalls security telling him that he wasn’t allowed to bring in any outside water. He says: “I’m basically begging him, like: ‘Can I please bring this in,’ and he’s just frustrated with me and he’s telling me to go back out the exit and figure out what I’m going to do.”
In order for Derick to see Taylor that evening, his “only option” was to throw the bottles away, and he says that he drank as much as he could before going through security, when he ended up getting a spot right in front of the barricade.
“I was desperately in need of water pretty quickly because it’s such a hot day and after running so much I was sweating intensely, and also we’re just in a crowd of people in this insane heat,” he explains. “I think they said 40 degrees celsius [104F], but the atmosphere felt closer to 60 degrees celsius [140F].”
As Derick was at the front of the crowd, the quickest way out of the venue was to go over the barricade, especially as he felt “really close to fainting at this point.” People around him tried to help him over, only for security to apparently come over “screaming” and telling him that he needs to work his way backwards through the crowd.
As Derick continued to ask for water, he says that he was told that he needs to pay for it even though he was struggling to get to his wallet as he was in such a bad way. When he finally got his card, he says he was charged R$40, which is approximately $8, for a small bottle of water. He adds that he’d paid R$5, around $1, for the bottles he intended to take into the stadium.
Derick’s account comes as organizers behind the show issued an apology following Ana Clara’s death — and admitted that they should have handled the situation differently.
Taylor publicly acknowledged the tragedy on her social media page after Friday’s show, writing on her Instagram story at the time: “I can't believe I'm writing these words. but it is with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show. I can't even tell you how devastated I am by this. There's very little information I have other than the fact that she was incredibly beautiful and far too young.”
Ana had flown to the city from the small district of Sonora in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil especially for Taylor’s concert, and it had marked her first time on a plane.
After Adriana’s interview aired, Swifties took it upon themselves to crowd fund the money that they needed, with Brazilian news outlet G1 reporting that fans raised R$30,000 [around $6,000] in less than 12 hours.
Ana was laid to rest in Pedro Gomes, the city where her father lives, on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, there has been some confusion over whether or not Taylor has been in touch with Ana’s family after her death, with Ana’s cousin Gabriela Benevides denying reports in US media that she had contacted them.
