Future Music Asia festival cancelled after six drug deaths

THE Future Music festival in Kuala Lumpur has been cut short after a spate of drug arrests and reports of up to six deaths on site.

Pharrell Williams’ performance at the final day of Future Music Asia was cancelled after

THE Future Music Asia Festival in Kuala Lumpur was cut short over the weekend after a spate of drug arrests and deadly overdoses.

The third and final day of the massive dance music event was abandoned following reports of up to six drug overdoses at the festival.

Malaysia’s New Straits Timeshas reported that over the first two days of the festival, police made a total of 29 drug arrests.

Six people in attendance at the second day of the festival died after overdosing on synthetic drugs. The newspaper identified them as mostly Malaysian and Singaporean nationals in their 20s: Kamal Zekry Kamal Basha, 22; Victor Wong E Hern, 26; Sabreena Kamaruddin, 21; M. Suresh, 28; Syazana Sohaime, 23; and Nor Faizza Mohd Wazir, 27.

Future Music Asia: three-day festival cut short due to drug deaths.

Future Music Asia responded to the tragedy by posting the following statement on its Facebook page:

“The organisers of the festival are deeply saddened by the reported loss of lives on Friday 14th March. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of those affected.

The health and safety of our patrons is of upmost importance to us and we are extremely devastated that circumstances such as these occurred despite the significant planning and resources in place.

In the words of ACP Tuan Mohan Singh, District Police Chief, IPD Cheras, “Police worked closely with event organisers, security, Bukit Jalil Stadium and a number of other government agencies in the planning process. A high visibility police operation featuring over 100 police members was in place to work across crowd control and drug detection activities.”

ACP Tuan Mohan Singh further stated, “We recognise the efforts of the organisers in putting in place preventative health and safety measures at the event. They have cooperated fully with the Police on both days to create a safe environment for the public. What happened at the event is unfortunate and we remind all members of the public of the immense dangers associated with the use of illegal substances”.

Acts including Eric Prydz, Porter Robinson, Knife Party and Pharrell were all due to perform during the festival’s final day.