Death strikes Roskilde Festival for second year in a row

20-year-old Swedish man dies of apparent drug overdose

Less than two days after the gates to Roskilde Festival were swung open, tragedy has already struck.

A 20-year-old Swedish man was found dead of an apparent drug overdose in the early morning hours of Monday in the festival’s camping grounds.

“We are regarding it as a tragic death due to drugs,” Lene Madsen, a communications official with Mid- and West-Zealand police, told Ekstra Bladet tabloid. Madsen said that no foul play was suspected. Police at this point are not releasing any information about which drugs the young man may have been taking and are continuing to investigate the case.

This marks the second year in a row in which the Roskilde Festival is marred by a tragic incident.

Last year, a 25-year-old German woman died after falling from a 31 metre zipline tower. She apparently scaled the security fence while the zipline was closed due to bad weather, then proceeded to climb naked to the top of the tower before falling to her death.

The 2012 Roskilde Festival began its warm-up festivities on Saturday. The official programme begins on Thursday.