A man aged in his 40s has died and five others were taken to hospital after a music festival in Sydney’s west overnight.
Police said a number of patrons suffered “medical episodes” at Dreamstate Festival at Sydney Olympic Park about 11:30pm yesterday.
The event hosts a line-up of trance and techno music.
A NSW Health spokesperson said there were “two urgent medical transfers and three non-urgent transfers to hospital”, while one man sadly died.
Police said the man was aged in his 40s but is yet to be formally identified.
“A range of harm reduction initiatives are in place at festivals, including support and health promotion workers, health messaging, free chilled water, misting fans, chill-out spaces and well-equipped medical services,” the NSW Health spokesperson said.
Minister for Music and the Night-Time Economy, John Graham, said there was no trial pill-testing facility available at the event.
He said a safety action plan was in place, as legally required by the government.
“It is a reminder that pill testing that has been going has allowed information from health to be distributed to people across the state,”
he said.
“We really want to get the word out about the dangers here.”
A police investigation is underway, Mr Graham said the government would also look into the incident.
There are so far 11 festivals to take part in the state government’s year-long pill-testing trial, with the most recent being Laneway on Sunday.
More than 40,000 people are expected to attend Sydney’s Centennial Park.
The drug checking service provides information about the content and potency of a substance to potential users.
High-dose MDMA warning
It comes after NSW Health on Tuesday issued a warning about multiple high-dose MDMA tablets in circulation.
Some of pills were also found to contain dipentylone, a synthetic cathinone with stimulant effects.
NSW Poisons Information Centre medical director Darren Roberts said the amount of MDMA in a tablet can vary significantly, even within the same batch.
“We are concerned about the prolonged detection of these high-dose MDMA tablets and are urging the community to be aware and vigilant, particularly for those people attending major festivals over the next few weeks,”
he said.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.abc.net.au ’
