Coachella 2014 Weekend 2 seems to have been a success, with the appearances of Jay-Z, Usher, Pusha T in Pharrell's show, Arcade Fire doing a little Daft Punk, and Nas and Lauryn Hill hitting the stage together. Unfortunately, amongst all the musical goodness going on, tragedy hit the Indio based festival on Thursday afternoon.
An Oakland woman, Kimchi Truong, 24, died on Thursday afternoon at an area hospital after collapsing at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, CA, on April 12 according to the Hollywood Reporter. Sgt. Curt James of the Riverside County sheriff-coroner's office reported to THR, "We're testing to find out whether drugs or alcohol are involved in the death." James could not confirm whether Truong's death was an drug overdose related death and stated that they would not know the cause for up to six weeks. Drugs and alcohol "are always a concern and something we would look at," continued James. "When somebody of that age dies suddenly we would be concerned."Coachella concert promoter Goldenvoice described the death of Truong as an "apparent drug overdose."
Truong "collapsed" at Coachella last Saturday. She was first taken to JFK Hospital and later transferred to Desert Region Medical Center according to a coroner's office statement. Goldenvoice released a statement that read, "Last weekend, a festival attendee suffered an apparent drug overdose. The individual was seen by on-site medical staff and later transferred to JFK Memorial Hospital and later to Desert Regional Medical Center. We are saddened to learn the individual has died. We believe this to be an unfortunate but isolated incident. Our thoughts and condolences are with the family and friends."
The Coachella festival, which attracts more than twenty thousand attendees every weekend from all over the world, was held for the second year on back-to-back weekends. It takes place in Indio, California, on the grounds of the Empire Polo Club.