Ana was fulfilling a lifelong dream of going to Taylor Swift’s concert when it was cut short.

The father of a young Brazilian Taylor Swift fan who died in Rio de Janeiro at the singer's concert is seeking answers from the concert organisers.

Ana Clara Benevides, 23, became unwell at the Nilton Santos stadium on Friday, event organiser T4F wrote on Instagram, amid a record-breaking heatwave across large swathes of Brazil, prompting the government to mandate the provision of water during the tour.

It said she was promptly attended to by medical staff and then taken to an on-site medical station before being transferred to the Salgado Filho Hospital, where she later died.

Taylor Swift performs onstage during The Eras Tour at Estadio Olimpico Nilton Santos on November 17, 2023 in Rio de Janeiro. Image: Getty.

Rio State Health Service said Ana arrived at the hospital with her heart stopped.

Her cause of death is unknown and will be investigated.

Now, the father of Benevides Machado is seeking answers from the event organiser.

Weiny Machado, 53, told Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, "I want to know if it's true that they are prohibited from bringing water and neglected to provide assistance."

"I lost my only daughter, a happy and intelligent girl."

"She was about to graduate in psychology next April, saving money," he shared. "I have no words to express my pain. She left home to fulfill a dream and came back dead.”

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A post shared by Ana Benevides (@acbenevidesm)

About 60,000 fans had gathered for Swift's sell-out concert at the stadium, which is located far from Rio's breezy picture-postcard beaches in a neighbourhood in the north of the city.

The show took place on the same day that Rio recorded its highest-ever reading of the so-called heat index, which combines temperature and humidity, at 59.3 degrees Celsius.

During the show, Swift paused her performance and asked from the stage for water to be brought to a group of people who had successfully caught her attention. 

"They were holding up their phones saying, 'We need water,'" she recalled.

Swift said, per Daily Mail, "Do you see that? Sorry it's just it's very hot. So, if someone says they need water when it's this hot, they really need it."

She continued, "We don't need to chant, it's totally fine. We just need to get water to them. Does anyone here have water?"

In a note shared on her social media, Swift said she had a "shattered heart".

"There's very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young," the singer wrote of the young woman.

The singer, who is in Brazil for six shows as part of The Eras Tour, expressed her sorrow and offered condolences to Benevides' family and friends.

"I'm not going to able to speak about this from the stage because I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it," she wrote on Instagram. 

"This is the last thing I ever thought would happen when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil."

Image: Instagram @taylorswift.

Swift said Benevides died "before my show" but Benevides' friends told local media that she became ill after the concert began.

Justice Minister Flavio Dino called for an investigation on Saturday after unconfirmed reports of a lack of drinking water for the audience in the stadium.

"The Consumer Protection Code requires that services be safe and suitable for HEALTH. It is unacceptable for people to suffer, faint and even die due to a lack of access to water," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

National Consumer Secretary Wadih Damous also shared a post on X, writing that the government has ordered T4F to ensure access to water at all of the singer's concerts in Brazil.

Swift was scheduled to perform in Rio on Saturday and Sunday, followed by three shows in São Paulo between November 24 and 26. She postponed the Saturday show to two days later on Monday amid sweltering conditions for the second day in a row.

"I'm writing this from my dressing room in the stadium. The decision has been made to postpone tonight's show due to the extreme temperatures in Rio," the singer said in a handwritten note posted on her Instagram account. "The safety and well being of my fans, fellow performers, and crew has to and always will come first."

Taylor Swift has postponed Saturday night's show "due to extreme temperatures in Rio". Image: Instagram @taylorswift.

Fans and politicians have reacted to the young fan's death, speculating it was linked to the extreme heat. 

Concertgoers who attended the Friday show said they were not allowed to bring water bottles into the stadium even though Rio and most of Brazil have had record-breaking temperatures this week amid a dangerous and lasting heat wave. The daytime high in Rio on Friday was 39.1 degrees Celsius, but it felt much hotter.

The 'apparent temperature' – a combination of temperature and humidity – hit 59 degrees in Rio on Friday morning, the highest index ever recorded there.

Elizabeth Morin, 26, told The Associated Press about the "sauna-like" conditions.

"It was extremely hot. My hair got so wet from sweat as soon as I came in," she recalled. "There was a point at which I had to check my breathing to make sure I wasn’t going to pass out."

Morin said that while she had access to plenty of water, she saw "a good amount of people looking distressed" and others "yelling for water".

She said she was able to get water from the sidelines of the area she was standing in, but that water was a lot harder to access from other parts of the stadium, "especially if you were concerned about losing your specific position".

On her way to the coveted tour, 23-year-old Benevides sent a video to family members that was broadcast by TV channel Globo News, telling them: "Mum, look at the plane, it’s moving. Mom, I’m on the plane. My God in heaven! I’m happy!"

— With AAP.

This article was originally published on November 19 and has been updated.

Feature Image: Getty/Instagram @taylorswift. Instagram/@acbenevidesm.