Stage Crew Member Fatal Incident During Shakira Concert Preparations in Brazil

A member of the technical crew working on Shakira's upcoming concert in Copacabana, Brazil, has tragically lost their life. The incident happened while the stage for the singer's free show in Rio de Janeiro, scheduled for Saturday, May 2, was being erected.

Emergency services were alerted when the technician suffered critical injuries to his legs involving a lifting system. He was immediately transported to a hospital, but concert organisers, Bonus Track, confirmed his passing in a statement.

Preparations for the massive event, which was anticipated to draw over a million attendees, had been underway for several weeks.

A witness reported seeing people suddenly running and observing that the stage structure had fallen. "People were saying that a man had gotten trapped underneath," shared local resident Antonio Marcos Ferreira dos Santos. "People rushed over to pull him out."

The concert was part of Shakira's "Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour," a tour that has already achieved a Guinness World Record for the highest- grossing Latin tour ever, having earned more than $421.6 million from its initial 86 dates.

This incident brings to mind a prior safety concern for the artist; last year, Shakira had to cancel a concert in Medellin, Colombia. At that time, a stage roof malfunction during preparations at the Atanasio Girardot Stadium was identified as a potential danger to both the artist and the audience by event organiser Paramo Presenta.