Mother holds festival responsible for son's death

31 January 2012

by Shannon Andreucci

The mother of a 34-year-old man from Epping, who died of a suspected drug overdose at the Rainbow Serpent Festival in Victoria, is holding the event organisers responsible for her son’s death.

Daniel Buccianti died in the early hours of Sunday morning when paramedics were called to the event at around 1.30am but could not revive him.

According to The Courier, he had called his mother Adriana from the festival earlier saying: “Mum I have taken some very bad acid and everything is very odd here.”

Mr Buccianti’s mother reportedly said to him: “Daniel don’t worry, you need to get yourself to St John Hospital really quickly.”

But 40 minutes later he called back and told her everything was fine.

Police informed Ms Buccianti of her son’s death the next morning. A drug overdose is being investigated as a possible cause of it.

There are several reports that a second man was taken to Ballarat Base Hospital in a serious but stable condition on Saturday night, after suffering a cardiac arrest in connection with a suspected drug overdose.

Ms Buccianti has blamed the festival organisers for her son’s death saying, “They should be shut down.”

The annual four-day event held at Beaufort promotes international music, arts and lifestyle and attracts up to 12,000 people.