
At least eight concertgoers are dead and “scores” are injured after the crowd rushed the stage during day one of the Astroworld Festival in Houston on Friday night.
Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena said that some of the more than 50,000 in attendance began to “compress” toward the stage during festival organizer Travis Scott’s set.
“At approximately 9:00 or 9:15, the crowd began to compress toward the front of the stage. That caused some panic. It started causing some injuries. People began to fall out, become unconscious and created additional panic,” Pena said in a press conference on site recorded by ABC13 Houston:
Seventeen patients were transported to hospitals, eleven of which were transported due to cardiac arrest. “At least” eight died; their exact cause of death is not yet known. The patients range in age with one as young as 10, according to Pena.
Tomorrow’s scheduled events for Astroworld have been cancelled as the grounds are now a crime scene. More than 50 EMS vehicles were deployed on site during the mass casualty event; in excess of 100 concertgoers were treated on the scene.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner declined to guess and cautioned against speculation.
“There are a lot of rumors going around,” Finner said.
The fatal surge at the stage was the second crowd-related incident reported at Astroworld on Friday. Earlier today, a news crew captured attendees rushing the gates.
“Multiple fans were trampled as hundreds rushed the event’s perimeter Friday afternoon. Once inside, some people began climbing onto portable toilets as security personnel worked to try and contain the crowd,” ABC13 Houston reported.
As we were arriving to the Astroworld Festival at NRG Park right at 2:00, a stampede burst through the gates. Hundreds of people destroyed the VIP security entrance, bypassing the checkpoint. People were trampled. Some were detained.
(Excuse any language you may hear) pic.twitter.com/d0m2rjqAAk
— Mycah Hatfield (@MycahABC13) November 5, 2021
Finner said the afternoon gate rush was unrelated to the later fatalities.
Astroworld is a LiveNation event curated by Travis Scott, located at NRG Park and across the street from the now-defunct AstroWorld amusement park.
HFD Chief Samuel Pena: If you have a relative who was at the event and you've not spoken to them, you can go to the reunification center at 8686 Kirby. That's the Windham Houston Hotel. HPD and HFD will be there to assist.
— KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) November 6, 2021