Two men have died after attending Knockout Outdoor festival

The start of Sydney’s festival season has been marred by tragedy, with two young men dying on Saturday as debate over pill testing continues to rage.

Two men in their 20s have died after attending a music festival in Sydney.

One 26-year-old man collapsed in Olympic Park on Saturday and died later at Concord hospital.

Detective Superintendent Simon Glasser confirmed that NSW paramedics performed CPR on the man at Olympic Boulevard when police were called to the scene around 1am.

Another man, 21, was rushed to St Vincents hospital where he died.

Autopsies will be carried out for the two men to determine their cause of death, which is not yet known.

A NSW Health spokesperson confirmed that both men who died were taken to the hospital in an ambulance after they had left the Knockout Outdoor festival yesterday.

There were nine urgent medical transfers to hospital from the Knockout Outdoor festival, while there was one medical transfer from Listen Out.

Addressing the media this afternoon, Superintendent Simon Glasser said that the two deaths are “not specifically being treated as a suspected drug overdose”.

“We’ll look at all avenues, anything could have happened,” Superintendent Glasser said.

He added that ongoing drug use is a concern of his.

“So obviously, the police enforce the law. We don’t condone drug use. And this shows that people can die at music festivals. Drugs can have some horrible consequences,” he said.

The superintendent also confirmed that friends and family of the young men who passed away are assisting police with investigations.

The NSW Health spokesperson added that there were multiple harm reduction initiatives in place across the festivals, including support and health promotion workers, health messaging, free water, chill-out spaces, and well equipped medical services.

NSW Police released two statements earlier today emphasising that the deaths didn’t take place at the event.

Knockout Outdoor festival marred by deaths, drug arrests

Roughly 53,000 people attended the popular electronic dance festival on Saturday.

Police said 27 people were charged with drug possession, and four with drug supply.

One man, 26, was arrested and refused bail after police allegedly seized 491 MDMA pills as well as four grams of cocaine and cash after being stopped by a drug detection dog.

He was charged with supply prohibited drug, supply prohibited drug, and recklessly deal with proceeds of crime.

A 21-year-old man was also arrested and refused bail after police allegedly found 61 ecstasy tablets, 40 MDMA capsules, and cocaine during a search.

He was charged with two counts of supply prohibited drug and two counts of possess prohibited drug.

Both men will appear at the Parramatta Bail Court today.

Knockout Outdoor saw approximately 53,000 attendees yesterday. Picture: Knockout Outdoor, Facebook.

Listen Out festival was met with a heavy police presence which included police dogs. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper

Two Listen Out attendees set to face court today after 63 capsules seized

There were also a string of drug arrests at the Listen Out festival at Centennial Park on Saturday.

At least 27,000 people attended the event – which featured Skrillex, Ice Spice and Lil Uzi Vert as the headline acts.

Two men, aged 19 and 23, were arrested at Listen Out after police allegedly seized 63 suspected MDMA capsules, as well as cocaine.

They were both charged with supply a prohibited drug, while the younger man was also charged with possess a prohibited drug.

The pair have been refused bail and will appear in Parramatta Bail Court today.

Another two people were arrested at Listen Out for allegedly assaulting police, including one for wilful and obscene exposure and another for breach of bail.

Police said 85 people were found to have prohibited drugs, with 37 of those given court attendance notices, 29 criminal infringement notices and 19 with cannabis cautions.

Eight more people were charged with drug supply.

Last year’s Listen Out and Knockout festival saw 18 hospitalised

Last year, Knockout Outdoor festival, which had an attendance of over 44,000, saw 12 people taken to hospital, most of which were suspected drug overdoses.

Additionally, Listen Out 2022 saw more than 20,000 people embark on the festival grounds, with six taken to hospital.

Earlier this year a 26-year-old Commonwealth Bank employee died at Sydney’s Transmission festival from a suspected overdose.

According to police, over 130 people were treated at the Transmission Festival back in February, where several complaints were made thought to be related to drug use and heat exhaustion.

“At least 12 people were transported by NSW Ambulance paramedics to hospitals for further treatment relating to drug use, with seven of those patients requiring intubation,” police said.

Coronial inquest recommended pill testing

A coronial inquest took place after six people died at NSW music festivals between December 2017 and January 2019, 

The six people, Alex Ross-King, 19, Joshua Tam, 22, Callum Brosnan, 21, Diana Nguyen, 21, Joseph Pham, 23, and Nathan Tran, 18, all died during or just after attending festivals across NSW, including Knockout Circuz and Knockout Games of Destiny, both of which are Hardstyle United Events. 

The inquest found that MDMA was “the major casual factor” in each of the drug-related deaths, and recommended that medically supervised drug testing take place at NSW music festivals. 

The inquest also recommended decriminalising personal use of drugs and removing sniffer dogs, which the report stated has a link between harmful consumption – including panic ingestion or inserting drugs in vaginal or anal cavities.

Originally published as Two men have died after attending Knockout Outdoor festival