Woman, 28, and man, 26, die suddenly after dance festival as cops launch probe into fears of drug poisoning

THE DEATHS of two young people who died suddenly after attending a dance festival are being investigated over fears they were poisoned by rogue drugs.

A 28-year-old newlywed bride collapsed at a hotel after attending the Basildon Dance Music Festival in Essex last Sunday.

And a man aged 26 also fell ill after leaving the all-day rave.

Toxicology tests are being carried out on both victims to establish their cause of death.

Police are treating their deaths as “unexpected” and are trying to assess whether they fell victim to a bad batch of drugs as an urgent matter of public safety.

Sources said the deceased woman was a mental health nurse who got married last month, while the man who died is the son of an unlicensed boxer from Essex.

Their families are said to be “devastated”.

One local said: “It is utterly tragic. They were both lovely people with their whole lives ahead of them.

“The woman had just got married very recently and her family are understandably shocked and devastated.

“There is a serious concern that both of them may have died after taking a pill from a bad batch being sold by dealers.”

An Essex Police spokesman said: “We were called to concerns for the welfare of a woman at the Holiday Inn at the Festival Leisure Park in Basildon shortly after 2.15am on Monday 1 May.

“Emergency services attended and the woman, aged in her 20s, was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

“Very sadly, she later died. Her death is being treated as unexpected and under investigation and enquiries are ongoing to establish the circumstances which led to her becoming unwell.

“Her family is being supported by our officers.”

The spokesman added of the second death: “Separately, we have also received a report of the sudden death of a man aged in his 20s.

“His death is being treated as unexpected and unexplained, but, at this stage, not suspicious. Further enquiries will be carried out to identify a cause of death.”

The Essex town of Basildon is where Leah Betts took a fatal dose of ecstasy on her 18th birthday at a nightclub in 1995.

She died five days later when her life support machine was switched off.

Leah’s family issued a harrowing photo of Leah unconscious in hospital as a warning about the dangers of drugs and campaigned for years against abuse of narcotics.