- guardian.co.uk, Monday June 25 2001 02.19 BST
Police launched a search for the batch of drugs, believed to be ecstasy, taken at the Raindance rave underneath London Bridge station on Saturday.
They warned that more people could be affected by the tablets and urged people who thought they might be have the drugs to hand them in without fear of prosecution.
The dead man, who was 19 and from the West Midlands area, has not been named. Two other young clubbers aged between 19 and 21 were admitted to hospital in a "critical condition" and six were treated for minor drug overdoses.
"Anyone still in possession of drugs is warned that they are dangerous and may cause serious illness," said Superintendent Wayne Smith.
"I would urge anyone feeling unwell having taken drugs in and around the vicinity of this club to go to hospital whatever their symptoms."
He added: "If you have drugs and haven't taken them you should hand them in to the police. Your actions may save lives."
Police officers were called to an alley near the rave by a security guard who had discovered a man collapsed on the ground at around 6.30am yesterday.
He appeared to have fallen and had cuts and bruises, but ambulance staff also identified that he was suffering from the symptoms of a drug overdose. Shortly afterwards another man was found nearby collapsed in a street.
Both were taken to St Thomas's hospital and remain in a critical condition.
The 19-year-old was also taken to hospital by ambulance in a critical condition but died at 8am yesterday, Mr Smith confirmed.
He said those who had taken the contaminated drugs had become very hot and had taken off items of clothing in an attempt to cool down. Some appeared to have had fits and convulsions.
The Raindance rave was promoted as "the most mindblowing underground dance event to hit the 21st century so far" and featured around 80 DJs playing music and hi-tech laser and video shows.
According to its website Raindance started 10 years ago and was the first legal, fully licensed all night event in the UK.
It was first held in a field in east London and moved to several venues before arriving at the present site in 1999.
The venue had been operating under an occasional licence for the past five weeks under the name SE1 and had been visited by police last Saturday night after doormen stopped a man who was attempting to deal drugs, Mr Smith said.
Three people have been arrested on suspicion of supplying drugs and were being held in custody at Walworth police station.
