The fifth annual Sunset Music Festival in Tampa, FL, turned out to be a nightmare when two young attendees lost their lives there. The EDM-oriented festival, a two-day event featuring the likes of Hardwell, The Chainsmokers, Liquid Todd and other big-name EDM acts, drew 30,000 people on May 28-29, and in addition to the pair of reported casualties, paramedics apparently made in excess of 85 runs to the festival, with 57 festivalgoers winding up being taken to local hospitals.
Katie Bermudez, 21, of Kissimmee, and Alex Haynes, 22, of Melbourne, were the two who died after being transported to a hospital. The cause of death has not yet been determined, but toxicology reports are still pending. With the proliferation of drug abuse incidents at electronic music festivals, it’s feared that drugs played a part in the deaths of Bermudez and Haynes, and certainly in many of the other paramedic calls to the festival. Consequently, local authorities are up in arms about the event, and some are saying that they don’t want to see another Sunset Music Festival in Tampa next year.