Tragedy has happened at the annual music festival held by the 'Astroworld' rapper as eight concertgoers died and hundreds were treated for injuries in a stampede.
- Nov 7, 2021
AceShowbiz - At least eight people have died in a tragedy just before Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival set on Friday night (05Nov21).
The rapper was preparing to close out the first night of his two-day festival at Houston's NRG Park in Texas when a crowd crush turned deadly as fans rushed the stage, according to the New York Post.
"People started to fall out, become unconscious and it created additional panic," Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena told reporters early on Saturday morning local time, calling the tragedy "a mass casualty incident," which overwhelmed emergency responders.
At least 23 people were taken to nearby hospitals in cardiac arrest, including one as young as 10, and over 300 were treated for injuries and health issues at a field hospital set up on-site.
Chaos caught on video and posted on social media shows first responders performing Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on people and rushing fans to ambulances on gurneys.
Police officials are looking at footage from the festival in an effort to determine what sparked the crush and who might be to blame for the chaos. Scott is co-operating with the cops.
The second night of the festival has been cancelled.
Houston Police also said the Astroworld tragedy seemed like it happened "over the course of just a few minutes."
Executive Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite said, "It happened all at once. It seemed like it just happened... over the course of just a few minutes. Suddenly we had several people down on the ground, experiencing some type of cardiac arrest or some type of medical episode."
According to the Houston Chronicle, Scott stopped his set multiple times when he spotted fans in distress near the front of the stage. He asked security to check on them and help them out of the crowd.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo called it an "extremely tragic night."
Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena told reporters, "We had at least eight confirmed fatalities tonight and scores of individuals that were injured. The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage, and that caused some panic, and it started causing some injuries. People began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic."
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner added, "I think it's very important that none of us speculate. Nobody has all the answers tonight. If you don't have facts, if you don't have evidence, I'm not going to speak against that. We have hurting families out here."
