No less than eight folks died and quite a few others had been injured in what officers described as a surge of the group on the Astroworld music competition in Houston whereas rapper Travis Scott was performing.
Officers declared a “mass casualty incident” simply after 9 p.m. Friday throughout the competition the place an estimated 50,000 folks had been in attendance, Houston Fireplace Chief Samuel Pena informed reporters at a information convention.
“The gang started to compress in the direction of the entrance of the stage, and that prompted some panic, and it began inflicting some accidents,” the fireplace chief stated. “Folks started to fall out, grow to be unconscious, and it created extra panic.”
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The present was referred to as off shortly thereafter. The fireplace chief stated “scores of people” had been injured.
Officers transported 17 folks to hospitals, together with 11 who had been in cardiac arrest, Pena stated. It wasn’t clear whether or not all eight who died had been among the many 17 that had been transported to hospitals. Many individuals had been additionally handled on the scene at NRG Park, the place a discipline hospital had been arrange. About 300 folks had been examined at that web site all through the day, he stated.
Astroworld is a two-day music competition that was scheduled to happen Friday and Saturday in Houston. The occasion was offered out, in response to the Astroworld web site. Saturday’s performances have been canceled.
The deaths referred to as to thoughts a 1979 live performance for The Who the place 11 folks died and about two dozen had been injured as 1000’s of followers tried to get into Cincinnati’s riverfront coliseum.
Scott, one in every of music’s greatest younger stars, launched two new songs earlier Friday, “Mafia” and “Escape Plan.” The 29-year-old Houston native has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards. He has a 3-year-old daughter, Stormi, with Kylie Jenner, who introduced in September that she’s pregnant with their second youngster.
Drake joined Scott on-stage on the live performance — which was livestreamed by Apple Music — and posted images to Instagram after the efficiency.
Occasion promoters had organized for medical items to be on scene on the competition, nevertheless as soon as the group surge started, these items had been “rapidly overwhelmed,” Pena stated.
In a video posted to social media, Scott may very well be seen stopping the live performance at one level and asking for help for somebody within the viewers: “Safety, any person assist actual fast.”
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Houston Police Government Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite was close to the entrance of the group and stated it appeared the surge “occurred .”
“All of a sudden we had a number of folks down on the bottom, experiencing some sort of cardiac arrest or some sort of medical episode,” Satterwhite stated. “And so we instantly began doing CPR, and shifting folks proper then, and that’s after I went and met with the promoters, and Stay Nation, they usually agreed to finish early within the curiosity of public security.”
Pena stated officers didn’t instantly know the causes of demise for the eight individuals who died. A medical expert would examine. The deceased had not been recognized as of early Saturday.
Officers arrange a reunification heart at a resort for members of the family who had not been capable of attain relations who had been in attendance on the occasion. Authorities had been seeking to join households with festivalgoers who had been transported to the hospital, “some as younger as 10” years previous, Harris County Decide Lina Hidalgo stated.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner referred to as for calm and urged folks to not leap to conclusions as to what prompted the surge.
“I believe it’s crucial that none of us speculate. No one has all of the solutions tonight,” Finner stated. He added that there have been a number of rumors surrounding the occasion that authorities would look into.
“We’re going to do an investigation and discover out as a result of it’s not truthful to the producers, to anyone else concerned, till we decide what occurred, what prompted the surge,” he stated. “We don’t know, however we’ll discover out.”
The Related Press reached out to a consultant for Scott however didn’t instantly hear again.
Finner informed reporters that Scott and the occasion promoters cooperated with police.
Scott based Astroworld Competition in 2018 and it has taken place on the former web site of Six Flags AstroWorld every year since, apart from in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Different music occasions the place there have been a number of fatalities lately embody the Las Vegas bloodbath in 2017 when 58 folks had been killed on the Route 91 Harvest Competition, the so-called Ghost Ship fireplace in 2016 that killed 36 folks in California and the 2003 Station nightclub fireplace that killed 100 folks in Rhode Island.
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