California man dies at Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas

A 24-year-old California man died Saturday morning at the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, the latest in a series of deaths at the electronic music festival in recent years.

The victim, identified as Montgomery Tsang of San Leandro, collapsed in the Las Vegas Motor Speedway parking lot and was pronounced dead shortly after 6 a.m., according to the Las Vegas Sun.

A spokeswoman for Insomniac, the company that stages the festival, confirmed the death in a statement issued Saturday, but said the show would continue through its scheduled end Monday.

“Today we learned some very tragic news, that after attending the festival a guest of the show has passed away. We are deeply saddened by this news, and hope that everyone will join us in keeping his family and friends in their thoughts during this very difficult time,” the statement read. “Dance music fans pride themselves in being part of a loving community and, as we get ready to start the second night of the show, we ask everyone to help us keep this event safe.”

Calls and emails to the Clark County Coroner’s office and Las Vegas Police Department were not returned.

Saturday night the mood outside the Marquee, a club where festival goers gather for pre-concert partying, was still vibrant. Most people in the crowd didn’t seem to be aware of Tsang’s death.

James Nguyen, 25, came to the festival from Houston and was going to attend Saturday night’s show as planned.

“People just need to learn to be responsible,” Nguyen said. “Everyone’s here for the music and they need to take care of themselves.”

EDC, once home to a fringe group of electronic music fans, has ballooned into a national event since it was founded in Los Angeles in the late 1990s. A 15-year-old girl died of an Ecstasy overdose at the event in 2010, ultimately leading to the move to Las Vegas. Two people died at the 2012 installment there.

Insomniac is not the only backer of electronic music festivals to grapple with deaths and injuries. Last year, the final day of New York City’s Electric Zoo festival, by Made Events, was canceled after two people died and four others were hospitalized.

The decision to end that event early was made after New York City officials recommended cancellation due to “serious health risks.” They said at the time that the drug MDMA appeared to be involved.