Drugs kill seven at Hanoi music event

Seven Vietnamese citizens have died and five are in a coma after taking drugs at an electronic dance music festival in Hanoi, officials said on Monday, as authorities scrambled to trace the substance.

The Sunday night disaster, believed to be the deadliest drug-related incident in the country, shocked the communist nation’s conservative capital. Synthetic drug use is on the rise but remains largely underground among a relatively niche group of hard-partying youth.

The victims tested positive for an unspecified drug, prompting officials to ban all electronic dance music (EDM) festivals in the capital.

“Police investigators are trying to figure out what type of drug that was,” deputy director of Hanoi police Nguyen Van Vien told reporters on Monday.

Officials said the dead were all in their 20s, while the five people in a coma in intensive care are between 18 and 30.

Sunday night’s “Trip to the Moon” festival was hosted by Vietnam Electronic Weekend in Hanoi’s upmarket West Lake, which is popular for its nightlife.

Thousands attended the event, which sprawled across three stages at a water park and included EDM big hitters Yellow Claw and Headhunterz on the line-up, the online flyer read.

One festivalgoer said she saw several people collapse in the crowd and about four people carried out on stretchers.

“I thought maybe they were just exhausted but when I saw more people [being carried out] I was shocked … there were so many ambulances outside I was freaking out,” she told AFP, declining to be named.

Another who attended the festival said she saw many people she suspected of being high standing around looking dazed for most of the night.

Organisers did not respond to AFP’s calls on Monday.

Investigators are trying to confirm who brought the drugs into the venue and said all events of its kind would be banned in the capital pending the probe.