At least eight people died and dozens were injured at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival in Houston on Friday night. The tragedy happened just after 9 p.m. CT when a crowd surged toward Scott as he was performing on stage, according to officials. Around 50,000 people were in attendance at the time of incident. “The crowd for whatever reason began to push and surge towards the front of the stage, which caused the people in the front to be compressed – they were unable to escape that situation,” Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña told CNN during a news conference on Saturday morning. “People began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic,” he added.
At about 9:30 p.m., the Houston Fire Department initiated a “mass casualty incident.” Twenty-three people were transported to hospitals – eight of them died and 11 are in critical condition. In a video posted to social media, Scott was seen stopping the show after seeing an ambulance in the crowd. On Nov. 6, festival organisers released a statement via the Astroworld Festival Twitter account. “Our hearts are with the Astroworld Festival Family Tonight-especially those we lost and their loved ones,” they tweeted. “We are focused on supporting local officials however we can. With that in mind the festival will no longer be held on Saturday.” We will continue to follow this story as it breaks.
