A Scottish teenage dance fan has died after falling ill at a controversial Halloween rave event in Edinburgh.
Maya Nager collapsed during the Terminal V electronic music festival on Saturday, October 29 and was rushed to the capital’s Royal Infirmary for treatment. But despite efforts to save her life, the tragic 19-year-old was pronounced dead by medics on Monday morning.
It is believed the teenager ingested a substance in the hours leading up to the sold out dance event held at the Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston in Edinburgh. Police Scotland has now launched an investigation into the circumstances regarding the teenager’s death.
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A source said: “The poor girl collapsed in the venue at around 6pm. It was a horrible sight and we saw her being rushed away to hospital in an ambulance. We were told she had taken something but that is just rumour at the moment.
“We didn’t know what had happened to her but to hear she has passed away is truly shocking.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "We were made aware of a 19-year-old woman taking unwell at an event in the Ingliston area of Edinburgh, around 6pm on Saturday, October 29, 2022. She was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh for treatment but sadly died on Monday, October 31, 2022.
“Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances of the incident.”
Terminal V organisers have been contacted for comment. The Terminal V Halloween 2022 rave event - billed as Scotland’s largest electronic music festival - was given the go-ahead despite police raising concerns after previous events were marred by drug-taking and hospitalisations.
The midday to midnight Terminal V festival was first held at the capital’s Royal Highland Centre in 2017 and initially attracted around 5,000 people. Last Saturday saw close to 20,000 dance fans attend the Halloween-themed event despite hundreds of arrests for drug incidents at previous events.
Police raised concerns over safety at an Edinburgh City Council licensing sub-committee meeting last month after a previous event saw three patrons needing to be placed in medically-induced comas.
At the council hearing, PC Greig Stephen said police had significant safety concerns following a large number of drug-related incidents at Terminal V in the past which had resulted in numerous hospitalisations and festival goers requiring treatment in intensive care units.
He said: “At each of the previous Terminal V events, there have been significant quantities of controlled drugs seized from patrons attending the event with serious medical incidents as a direct result of drugs misuse.”
And Claire Miller, the council’s senior public safety officer, called it the “highest-risk event” her department deals with. Organisers told the meeting they had a “robust” drug detection set up.
Despite the concerns raised councillors voted four to two in favour of granting the license.
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