The tragic final moments of six young revellers who took MDMA in the blistering heat – often mixing the drug with other substances – have been revealed.
The six deaths at New South Wales music festivals between December 2017 and January 2019 are being examined at an inquest before Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame.
Alexandra Ross-King, Nathan Tran, Diana Nguyen, Joseph Pham, Callum Brosnan and Joshua Tam were all aged between 18 and 23.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Peggy Dwyer, said autopsy reports indicated all six died as a result of MDMA toxicity or complications from MDMA use.
They also exhibited soaring body temperatures – above 41C in some cases – respiratory problems, muscle and jaw spasms, out-of-character aggression and cardiac arrests.
The tragic final moments of six young revellers including Alexandra Ross King (pictured), who paired MDMA with blaring heat and other substances, have been revealed
Alex Ross-King, 19, died after she took up to three pills in close proximity to avoid detection by police.
Ms Ross-King consumed two half-pills on her journey from the Central Coast in a mini bus to Parramatta Park to attend FOMO music festival on January 12 – and two more pills upon her arrival.
‘The January FOMO festival involved an unusual pattern of consumption for her,’ Dr Dwyer said at the NSW Coroners Court in Lidcombe on Monday.
‘She told her friends that because she was nervous about being caught by the police, she took the drugs at once like that.’
Alexandra Ross-King died after taking three MDMA pills in close proximity to avoid police detection at Sydney’s FOMO festival in January 2019
Ms Ross-King died at Westmead Hospital after doctors worked for four hours to resuscitate her, even attempting to put her on a heart and lung bypass machine.
Doctors gave her high doses of adrenaline, but her temperature rose to a critical 42C and she suffered ‘a number of cardiac arrests’ before CPR was stopped, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Joshua Tam, 22, died from complications after taking MDMA at Gosford’s Lost Paradise festival on December 29, when his temperature rose to 39.5C.
Joshua Tam (pictured) died from complications after taking MDMA at Lost Paradise festival on December 29
The inquest heard he was aggressive when medical staff tried to treat him, which was ‘entirely out of character’.
The 22-year-old’s heartbroken mother told the coroner ‘if nothing else, we must improve harm prevention’.
Julie Tam said her son was one of many who make poor decisions at an impressionable time in their lives.
‘Obviously we wish young people would not take risks with drugs … but in a civil society there must be measures we can put in place to try to save them from themselves,’ Ms Tam said at the NSW Coroners Court in Lidcombe on Monday.
‘Six kids can’t die at music festivals without some part of the rules changing.’
She hopes an inquest into the preventable death of her son and five others will address the issue of ‘so-called recreational drug use’ and stop other families from experiencing the pain of their ‘new normal’ without Joshua.
Julie Tam (pictured right with her husband, John) said her son was one of many who make poor decisions at a vulnerable time in their lives
The parents of Joshua Tam wear a t-shirt with his image on it at The Coroner’s Court of New South Wales in Lidcombe, Sydney on Monday
Dr Dwyer said Callum Brosnan collapsed at Sydney Olympic Park train station after the Knockout Games of Destiny on December 8, 2018.
She estimates that the 19-year-old took six to nine capsules and consumed a lot of water.
He fell on the platform at the railway station and his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he was vomiting before he was rushed to Concord hospital with a temperature of 41.9C.
The 19-year-old died due to a multi-system organ failure.
Joseph Pham was just 23 when he died at Defqon.1 music festival in Penrith on September 15, 2018.
He and five of his friends were ‘pumped and ready to have a good time’ when they arrived to the western Sydney festival.
He later told his friends that he had taken three to four pills and was taken to the medical tent at 7.30pm as he was feeling ‘extremely unwell’.
Mr Pham’s temperatures rocketed to 39.5C and he was rushed to Nepean Hospital where he died due to cardiac arrest.
Dr Dwyer said Callum Brosnan (pictured) collapsed at Sydney Olympic Park train station after the Knockout Games of Destiny on December 8, 2018
Diana Nguyen was also at Defqon.1 music festival when she drank three vodka cranberry drinks and took two pills with some friends.
She first stumbled on the dance floor before a friend helped her get to a seat in the VIP area, where they found she was warm to the touch, incoherent and sweating.
The inquest heard that a security guard insisted she go to the medical tent, despite her arguments not to.
On the way to the medical tent the 21-year-old collapsed, but by the time she arrived she was completely unconscious.
Paramedics couldn’t open her mouth due to muscle and jaw spasms, so they were forced to insert a nasopharyngeal airway device through her nostril.
They tried to save her by using ice packs, adrenaline and oxygen, but her temperature spiked to 39.5C and she went into cardiac arrest on the way to hospital.
Hoang Trang, who went by Nathan, died on December 16, 2017, at the Knockout Circuz after he drank from a bottle of water mixed with MDMA and bought four capsules.
Diana Nguyen (left) was at Defqon.1 when she drank three vodka cranberry drinks and took two pills with some friends. Joseph Pham (right), 23, also died after taking MDMA at Defqon.1 festival in September 2018
The inquest heard the 18-year-old became agitated and had to be handcuffed in order to get him to the medical centre.
His temperatures also soared to 41C and he died just 90 minutes after arriving at hospital.
In each of the six instances the coroner will consider whether medical treatment and subsequent transfer was adequate and appropriate, and if effective harm minimisation strategies were in place at the festivals.
NSW’s chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant is expected to give evidence that there has been a recent, substantial increase in drug-related harms associated with a small number of the state’s music festivals.
The chief executive of the NSW Users and Aids Association has also prepared a statement noting anecdotal evidence suggests up to 95 per cent of young festival patrons use illicit substances.
Nathan Tran (pictured) died at a Sydney music festival, one of the ‘six beautiful souls’ subject of an inquest into MDMA overdoses at NSW music festivals. Joseph Pham (right), 23, died after taking MDMA at Sydney’s Defqon.1 festival in September 2018
Further experts will be called to testify about shade tents and cool down areas, access to water, information and peer support, law enforcement and drug checking – also known as pill testing.
‘In this courtroom there is no judgment of the young people themselves,’ Dr Dwyer said.
‘These six young people were beautiful souls who have been lost to us. Without exception, they were talented, social and community-minded.’
Their deaths came as an incredible shock to their parents who were not aware of their child’s interest in drugs, she said.
Ms Grahame offered her condolences to the families of the deceased.
‘They could be any young people who go to music festivals and partake in drugs as many young people do,’ she said.
‘These are our young people … and we owe them a proper investigation of the circumstances in which they died.’
The inquest will run for two weeks with further hearings in September.