Officials in Argentina have confirmed that at least five people have died and a further five are critically ill after apparently taking drugs at a major electronic music festival.
Reports said the fatalities had occurred at the Time Warp festival in Buenos Aires on Friday. Two people in their 20s died at the event and three others died either in an ambulance or else at a hospital.
Officials say most of those who were taken ill and rushed to hospital are in comas. The BBC said the festival had got "out of control".
Dr Alberto Crescenti who heads the emergency medical system for the Argentine capital told the Associated Press that doctors were still trying to determine what sort of drugs caused the deaths. “We’ll see what substances they took,” he said.
The city government said on Saturday it has closed the centre where the concert took place.
The Time Warp festival was being held in Argentina on Friday and Saturday.
The Buenos Aires’ emergency service was called after it became clear that private ambulances attending the event were unable to cope.
“We couldn’t stay inside, we couldn't breathe,” one of the participants told local TV channel TN. “It was too hot and there were too many people.”
Time Warp, launched in Germany in 1994, was in Buenos Aires for the third year in a row.
Among the DJs performing there were Chris Liebing, Barem and Deep Mariano.
