Ana Clara Benevides Machado died before an Eras Tour show in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in November
The cause of death of a Taylor Swift fan, who died before an Eras Tour show in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in November, has been determined.
According to an official forensics report obtained by the Associated Press on Wednesday, Ana Clara Benevides Machado died of heat exhaustion.
The 23-year-old fan died on Nov. 17 while preparing to attend Swift’s concert at Estadio Nilton Santos. She felt unwell at the Rio venue, and first responders arrived at the scene before she was transferred to a nearby hospital, where she died, event organizer Time for Fun announced on X (formerly Twitter).
Following Benevides Machado’s death, Swift, 34, invited the Benevides family to meet her at a separate show, covered their travel expenses and made a donation to her parents, PEOPLE confirms.
Ana Clara Benevides Machado.ANA BENEVIDES/ INSTAGRAM
The “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” musician posted a handwritten note on her Instagram Story where she said that her heart was “shattered” by the tragedy.
“I can’t believe I’m writing these words, but it’s with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show,” Swift began her social media statement.
“I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this,” she continued. “There’s very little information I have other than the fact she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young.”
Swift added that she would not be able to speak about the fan’s death during her performances because of the “grief” she felt.
“I’m not going to be able to speak about this from the stage because I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it,” she wrote. “I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my heart goes out to her family and friends.”
“This is the last thing I ever thought would happen when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil,” Swift concluded her heartfelt message.
On Nov. 26, the pop star invited Benevides Machado’s loved ones, including her father, Weiny, to her final Brazil tour stop in São Paulo, a source close to Swift previously told PEOPLE.
The late fan’s family watched the performer from what appeared to be a VIP tent, a fan-captured clip shared on X showed.
The group of five wore matching shirts with Benevides Machado’s face on them during the concert, as well as when they met Swift beforehand and posed for a photo with her. (Several Swift fan accounts shared the photo on X.)
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Taylor Swift.JOHN SHEARER/TAS23/GETTY
After his daughter’s death, Weiny, 53, told Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, “I lost my only daughter, a happy and intelligent girl.”
“She was about to graduate in psychology next April, saving money,” Weiny said. “I have no words to express my pain. She left home to fulfill a dream and came back dead.”
According to Folha de S.Paulo, fans at Swift’s Nov. 19 Rio show claimed that they were not given any water while waiting in line for the concert even though the singer had postponed her Nov. 18 Rio show due to extreme heat.
In the same interview, Weiny said he wanted clarification on whether fans weren’t permitted to bring water into Estadio Nilton Santos on the day Benevides Machado died. (Temperatures reached 102 degrees on Nov. 17, per PBS.org.)
“I want to know if it’s true that they are prohibited from bringing water and neglected to provide assistance,” he told the outlet.
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Time for Fun, the company that organized Swift’s Brazil concerts — and revealed Benevides Machado’s death — is now under investigation.
NBC News reported that the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro’s consumer delegations department is investigating the alleged “crime of danger to life or health” by the company.
Event organizers are expected to be called to testify and authorities have begun taking additional steps “to investigate the facts,” per the outlet.
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