Inquests to be held into five festival deaths

Acting state coroner Teresa O’Sullivan has moved quickly to begin inquests into the suspected dance festival drug deaths of five young people which have rocked the state.

• Dance festivals face closures
• Telegraph says: Say no to drugs and tests

Acting state coroner Teresa O’Sullivan has moved quickly to begin inquests into the suspected dance festival drug deaths of five young people which have rocked the state.

Police are working with the coroner to provide detailed reports into each of the deaths of Diana Ngyuen, Joseph Pham, Callum Brosnan, Joshua Tam and Alexandra Ross-King.

The faces of loss from drug overdoses.

The inquests, which will be heard together, are also expected to examine harm minimisation including controversial pill testing.

Organisers of the festivals in question could be called to give evidence.

The unusual move follows the overdose deaths of 13 drug users in Sydney that prompted a public health warning in 2016 from then state coroner Michael Barnes about a deadly batch of pink-coloured heroin tainted with fentanyl.

Medical staff treated people at the FOMO music festival. Picture: David Swift

Coroner O’Sullivan will hold a directions hearing on January 22 into the deaths of Diana Nguyen and Joseph Pham at the Defqon.1 festival on September 15 at the Sydney International Regatta Centre at Penrith and music student Callum Brosnan, 19, at the Knockout Games of Destiny at Sydney Olympic Park on December 9.

The most recent festival death was at the FOMO music festival. Picture: David Swift

The latest deaths of Joshua Tam, 22, at the Lost Paradise music festival near Gosford on December 29 and 19-year-old Alexandra Ross-King at the weekend’s FOMO music festival.

No date has yet been set for the inquests.

What MDMA does to your body

Originally published as Inquests to be held into five festival deaths