Tragic details emerge as men who died after Sydney Knockout music festival are identified

Tragic new details have emerged about the death of one of two men who died after attending the Knockout music festival in Sydney over the weekend.

Jason Lee was transported to Concord Hospital about 1am on Sunday after he collapsed at Sydney Olympic Park, where the event was held.

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Before he collapsed, the 26-year-old spoke to his friend Julia An and told her he would send her his location so that she could find him, she said in a GoFundMe page launched to support his family following his death.

“After hours of trying to locate him, I received a call saying he was in critical condition at the hospital,” An said.

“When his mum and sister got there, he had already passed.”

In a separate incident on the same night, 21-year-old man Edward Lui, who attended the same festival, was treated by paramedics at a hotel on George St in Sydney’s CBD before he was transported to St Vincent’s Hospital.

He later died, and police were then called.

Lee has been described as the “most loyal friend, son brother”.

“Everybody who had the fortune of being his friend knows he was the most stand-up guy,” An said.

“He was always looking out for other people and being considerate of them, lending an ear, putting others before him.”

Lee will be laid to rest at a later date.

Separate investigations are underway into the men’s deaths, and reports will be prepared for the coroner.

“We are saddened by the death of two people after attending a festival in Sydney,” the Australian Festival Association said in a statement.

“We send our sincere condolences to the friends and family of them both.”

Nine other people were urgently taken to hospital from Knockout Outdoor and one from the Listen Out music festival, which was also held over the weekend, at Centennial Park in the city’s eastern suburbs.

On Tuesday, Melbourne man Trong Ha Nguyen, 23, faced a Sydney court accused of supplying the prohibited drug that caused the death of Lui at the weekend.

Nguyen was intercepted at Sydney Airport on Monday afternoon and later charged with supplying a self-administered prohibited drug causing death.

He was also accused of dealing with the proceeds of crime after being found with $13,500 in cash.

Nguyen was refused bail to reappear in court on November 30.

Drug busts

About 53,000 people attended the Knockout music festival, where 27 people were charged with possessing a prohibited drug and another four with supplying a prohibited drug.

In one instance, a 26-year-old man who initially ran from police was allegedly found with 491 MDMA pills, 4g of cocaine, and cash after a positive drug detection from a sniffer dog.

At Listen Out, illegal drugs were allegedly found on 85 festival-goers, 37 of whom were issued court attendance notices.

Another eight festival-goers were charged with supplying a prohibited drug, two were arrested for assaulting police, one for wilful and obscene exposure and another with breaching bail.

Pill testing calls

The two deaths have prompted calls for pill testing at music festivals in NSW, something Premier Chris Minns has not ruled out.

The introduction of pill testing for festivals would not be a perfect solution and the use of drugs like MDMA, or ecstasy, in hot conditions where people were liable to become severely dehydrated was a “toxic and extremely dangerous mix”, he said on Tuesday.

“Pill testing is not going to stop that from happening and I need to make sure that when decisions are made about festival safety — which is our primary concern — it’s done with the full information on the table,” he said.

The ACT introduced a fixed pill-testing site in July last year as part of a trial due to run until the end of 2024, while Queensland earlier this year paved the way for fixed and mobile drug-testing sites to be introduced.

NSW is due to hold a drugs summit next year to consider the use of pill-testing sites, among other harm-reduction measures.

Advocates for reform have called for immediate changes to prevent more deaths over the summer festival season.

Jen Ross-King, whose teenage daughter Alex died after taking a cocktail of two MDMA capsules, alcohol and energy drinks before a festival in 2019, on Monday begged for a policy shift to ensure “no one else loses their child”.

Minns said NSW would learn from other jurisdictions and he was not ruling out introducing a similar pill-testing trial in the state.

But investigations into previous drug-related festival deaths had shown the cause was not necessarily people receiving a “compromised substance” but rather a dangerously high dose of MDMA, he said.

“If I thought that (introducing pill testing) was a silver bullet that would solve deaths at music festivals, of course I would take it, but when it comes to toxicity, when it comes to MDMA and ecstasy use, there’s no safe drug-taking at festivals or anywhere else,” he said.

– With AAP