Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival Tragedy: Here's What We Know

Eight people were killed and scores of others were injured after a large crowd rushed the stage during Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival in Houston, TX. The incident occurred just after 9 p.m. CT, and about 30 minutes later, the Houston Fire Department initiated a “mass casualty incident,” transporting people to hospitals. Of the eight people, one was 14, two were 16, two others were 23, one was 27, and one person’s age remains unknown.

“Last night was tragic on many different levels, and this is a very, very active investigation,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a statement, according to NPR. “And we’ll probably be at it for quite some time to determine what exactly happened.” Around 50,000 people were in attendance at the time of the tragedy.

Writer Mark Elibert, who attended the festival, shared his experience with Billboard‘s Dan Rys in an article. “By the fourth or fifth song, there was a girl who walked out in front of me crying, she said she couldn’t breathe, that she felt like her ribs were breaking, and a bunch of people were trying to help, calming her down. The show kept going,” he recounted. “A few times Travis stopped the show to try to calm people down and try to get people to help each other in the crowd. But it seemed off, and he seemed like he didn’t know what was going on. At one point, he looked like he was trying to figure out what was going on in the crowd. Then Drake came on, everyone went crazy.”

He continued, “After I got home I started looking at the videos and connecting the dots with what I’d seen. I’ve seen Travis perform a lot of times. He always had crazy shows. But this was the first time that energy was off.”

In addition to refunding all concertgoers who purchased tickets for the original two-day scheduled music festival, Scott issued a press release saying he will pay for the funeral expenses of the eight victims. He also announced a partnership with BetterHelp to provide free online sessions with a licensed therapist for the anyone affected by the tragedy and cancelled his performance at the Day N Vegas festival, saying he is “too distraught to play.”

In a statement to POPSUGAR, Live Nation said, “We continue to support and assist local authorities in their ongoing investigation so that both the fans who attended and their families can get the answers they want and deserve, and we will address all legal matters at the appropriate time.”

In a separate statement on Twitter, ScoreMore shared an update on “the steps ScoreMore, Live Nation, and the Astroworld Fest team have been taking” since the tragedy. “We have been working to provide local authorities with everything they need from us in order to complete their investigation and get everyone the answers they are lookin for,” the statement said. ScoreMore also said they’ve met with local authorities to provide information and CCTV footage from the event and are “working on ways to support attendees, the families of victims, and staff, from providing mental health counselling to setting up a health fund to help with costs for medical expenses.”

As of Nov. 8, more than a dozen lawsuits have been filed against Scott and Astroworld organisers.