14 DAY TRIAL // Two people have died at the Electric Zoo festival in New York this week, prompting organizers to cancel the rest of the shows.
The cancellation was only in effect for Sunday, when ArminVanBurren, Steve Aoki, Diplo, Sebastian Ingrosso and others were supposed to take the stage.
The festival has been held on Randall’s Island since 2009. The NYPD and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office relayed a statement during a press conference.
“The City recommended cancellation and the event promoters have agreed. […] The Electric Zoo organizers have worked with City officials to reduce health risks at this event, but in view of these occurrences, the safest course is to cancel the remaining day of the event,” they state.
The deaths "appear to have involved the drug MDMA (ecstasy or molly)," city officials add, as relayed by Hollywood Reporter.
The festival carried on as scheduled until news of the two deaths broke. DJs like Tiesto, David Guetta, Avicii, Alessi and Benny Benassi performed on Friday and Saturday.
The Epoch Times writes that the victims have been identified as Jeffrey Russ of Rochester in New York and Olivia Rotondo of Durham in New Hampshire.
Russ went into respiratory arrest at 3:10 a.m. on Friday and he was dead within minutes. Rotondo displayed the same symptoms and stopped breathing at 8:45 p.m. that day. She died within 45 minutes at Metropolitan Hospital.
"Due to serious health risks, the Electric Zoo music festival on Randall's Island on Sunday, September 1 has been canceled.
"During the first two days of the Electric Zoo music festival, two concert-goers have died and at least four others became critically ill and have been placed in intensive care at area hospitals. Definitive causes of death have not yet been determined," the city statement further reads.
According to Columbia University’s Health Department, molly is believed to contain higher doses of MDMA than ecstasy.
"Many users believe that molly contains more MDMA and less filler compared to ecstasy pills," their website reads.