Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival experienced a mass casualty incident after a crowd surge left at least eight people dead and scores injured Friday night.
- The crowd surged near the stage at the concert, which happened in Houston, causing widespread panic among concertgoers.
- “This is a tragic night,” Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña told reporters. “We had at least eight confirmed fatalities tonight and scores of individuals that were injured.”
Peña said about 50,000 people were in attendance for the musical festival, which was slated to run two days from Nov. 5 and Nov. 6.
- The second day of the show has been canceled.
Per The Washington Post, the crowd started to converge toward the front of the stage close to 9 p.m. local time, which caused panic and injuries. Investigations are still ongoing, Peña said. The cause of deaths for the eight individuals who died was not revealed.
- 11 individuals needed CPR after they went into cardiac arrest.
- 23 people were taken to a nearby hospital, per The New York Times.
The Astroworld festival organizers said in a statement on Saturday morning:
- “Our hearts are with the Astroworld festival family tonight — especially those we lost and their loved ones.”
Chief Troy Finner of the Houston Police Department told The New York Times that he’s unsure what happened and what made the crowd go into a panic.
- “I’m sending investigators to the hospitals because we just don’t know,” Finner said. “We’re going to do an investigation and find out, because it’s not fair to producers, to anybody else involved, until we determine what happened, what caused the surge.”
Officials set up a reunification center in Houston Saturday for families to be reunited with their loved ones.