Second death of Emerge festival attendee is confirmed - victim named as father Trae Keenan
A second person who attended the Emerge Festival in Belfast has now been confirmed to have died.
He was Trae Keenan from Castlewellan in Co Down – he was in his 20s, and was a father-of-one.
He died the morning after the Saturday instalment of the festival after being taken to hospital from a property in Wellwood Street, central Belfast.
His sister Shanice Crawford has been reported as saying that his death is not drug related, and instead stemmed from a heart attack linked to a panic attack, adding that he had a history of heart problems and asthma.
Police gave no suspected cause of death, and said only that "enquiries are ongoing".
The news came after it was revealed that a girl aged 17 had died on Sunday after attending the event.
She had "become unwell" during the festival, and subsequently died in hospital.
Regarding her death, the PSNI said: "Police remained on the event site until Monday afternoon, 25th August. An investigation in order to establish the circumstances surrounding the tragic sudden death of this young person is ongoing, and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the deceased."
In addition, at least two other people were hospitalised after becoming ill at the same event.
One was a woman aged in her 30s who, as of Monday night, was in a serious but stable condition in hospital, while a boy aged in his teens was expected to make a full recovery.
The event, an electronic dance music festival with three stages, spanned Saturday and Sunday and was held at the council-owned Boucher Playing Fields in south Belfast.
A funeral notice was posted for Mr Keenan, which said he had died "suddenly" at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.
It described him as the "dearly beloved son of Pamela and John and cherished father of Mason, loving brother of Shanice, Tyler, Claire and Toni and loving partner of Tiffany, uncle to Harper and Fiadh, grandson of Gerry and Geraldine".
The notice added that funeral details will be confirmed later and suggested people could donate money to the emergency services via the undertakers.
"On his soul sweet Jesus have mercy, deeply regretted by his sorrowing mother, father, sisters, brother, grandparents, brother-in-law Scott and entire family circle," the notice said.
Sister Shanice was quoted as telling the Irish News: "Some of the comments already online that I’ve seen are just horrible.
“He wasn’t ill at the festival. He became ill after returning home and they were home from the concert about six hours, maybe.
“People are commenting and saying, oh, this is the drug UFO that we’ve heard about, but it wasn’t that."
She added that the "whole town just loved him" and the family is "completely heartbroken".
SDLP MLA for South Down Colin McGrath told the News Letter that "the thoughts and prayers of the community" are with the family, and that Castlewellan will "wrap round them" as they grieve.
Belfast City Council voiced its “sincere condolences” but added “as there is an ongoing PSNI investigation we cannot comment further at this time”.