At least eight people are dead and several more injured after a sold-out crowd of roughly 50,000 surged during rapper Travis Scott's performance at Friday's Astroworld Festival outside NRG Park, overwhelming the security forces at the show, reports The Houston Chronicle.
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| Houston Chronicle photo |
"We had a mass casualty event here at Astroworld," Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña said. "We had people falling out and passing out."
Seventeen people were taken to the hospital, 11 of whom Peña described as being in cardiac arrest.
"I've heard of other events like this at soccer, but not here, not in these sorts of events," Peña said.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo called it an "extremely tragic night," as families awaited word on whether their loved ones were OK. HPD is in the process of identifying victims at hospitals.
A crowd of 50,000 showed up for the two-day event, an homage to Houston's shuttered Astroworld amusement park. Day 2 of the festival, scheduled for Saturday, has been canceled. It was to feature Bad Bunny, Earth, Wind & Fire and Beaumont native Teezo Touchdown.
At 9 p.m. the crowd for Scott's closing performance began to push toward the front of the stage, according to Peña, causing panic and injuries. People began to fall unconscious, and the mayhem escalated until 9:38 p.m. when a "mass casualty incident" was triggered. The Houston Fire Department had 55 units respond at that time. More than 300 people were treated at the field hospital at NRG Park.
Scott, a Houston native, stopped multiple times during his 75-minute performance when he spotted fans in distress near the front of the stage. He asked security to make sure they were OK and help them out of the crowd. Emergency vehicles, lights and alarms flashing, cut through the crowds several times.
Another video- #Disturbing video shows people #jumping on top of the police personal cars while they were trying to get #unconscious people out of the #crowd.#Houston #ASTROWORLDFest #TravisScott #AstroWorld #music #festival #Houston#KHOU11 pic.twitter.com/tubnfQIVPS
— Chaudhary Parvez (@ChaudharyParvez) November 6, 2021
Videos taken at NRG Park began to surface on social media overnight, showing the melee during the concert.
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