FMFA deaths last year caused by heatstroke, not drugs, says pathologist

KUALA LUMPUR — Post mortem results have shown that the deaths of six people at Future Music Festival Asia (FMFA) in Kuala Lumpur last year were caused by heatstroke, not drug overdose.

For more than a year, everyone was made to believe that the deaths were due to drug overdose.

According to daily news portal The Star, a pathologist involved in the case said, two out of the 16 revellers brought to hospital in critical condition did not even have any trace of illegal substance.

University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) forensic pathology department head Prof Dr K Nadesan said, the hospital handled the post-mortem for three of the dead and also treated nine others.

Autopsies on the “virtually dried up” bodies, including one which had a temperature of 39°C, led Dr Nadesan to rule the deaths as caused by heatstroke.

Correcting the police statements which said all the deaths were linked to drugs, Dr K Nadesan mentioned that they made statements without proper scientific reasons, which is not the right way.

When interviewd by The Star, Dr K Nadesan said, “I was surprised because when I came in, the impression created from the police announcement was that they had taken large doses of drugs.

“Even the clinicians at the trauma centre were under the impression that these people were heavily intoxicated with drugs and were treating them for overdose instead heatstroke.

“The autopsy and clinical findings were not on par with drug overdose. The police had no grounds to say it was. It was a wrong assumption.”

In March last year, three women were among six people, who died from drug intake after they suffocated while attending the Future Music Festival Asia concert at the Bukit Jalil Stadium.

Singapore also cancelled the event, which was due to take place at the Changi Exhibition Centre on March 13 and 14. MALAY MAIL ONLINE