Teenager Dies At England's READING Festival

August 25, 2003

The unexplained death of an 18-year-old man at England's Reading music festival Monday (August 25) is being investigated by police, according to The Guardian.

The man collapsed and stopped breathing at around 5:00 a.m., and could not be revived despite attempts for almost an hour by emergency services, on-site medical staff and the teenager's friends.

He was later pronounced dead at the Royal Berkshire hospital in Reading. Scenes of crime officers examined the site where he collapsed but the death was not being treated as suspicious. A postmortem examination is to be carried out.

The teenager has not yet been formally identified but is from the Leighton Buzzard area of Bedfordshire. His family travelled to Reading yesterday. The festival attracted 60,000 music fans.

At the Leeds festival there was no repeat of the violent scenes that marred the end of last year's event. More than 50,000 fans packed each day of the three-day festival at Bramham Park, near Wetherby, to listen to bands including METALLICA, SYSTEM OF A DOWN and LINKIN PARK.

On Friday more than 20 youngsters were injured when a crowd surged against a barrier in front of the stage but organizers said there were no further incidents.

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