Multiple deaths in crowd surge at Texas concert

November 9, 2021

A crowd surge at a Texas event killed many individuals. Houston police are investigating a crowd surge that killed at least eight people and wounded dozens more, turning the Astroworld Festival into one of the deadliest musical performance catastrophes in U.S. history.At 9:38 p.m., officials declared a “mass casualty event.” During the festival at NRG Park, which drew an estimated 50,000 people, Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pea told reporters during a nocturnal press briefing.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner stated during a press conference on Saturday that 25 individuals were evacuated to hospitals and that 13 are still hospitalised. According to authorities, a 10-year-old boy is in severe condition. There were several additional injuries, according to Pea. At least 11 people died as a result of cardiac arrest, he added.

Turner stated that the victims’ ages varied from 14 to 27. The age of one person was unknown. Turner did not identify those slain in the event, but said six of the eight victims’ families had been contacted. Before the victims are returned to their families, autopsies will be done, according to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo.

Officials who appeared at the press conference on Saturday did not disclose the causes of death for the eight fatalities. The surge began just after Travis Scott, a festival headliner, ascended the stage.

“The crowd surge began to compress toward the front of the stage, which generated some fear and began to cause some injuries,” Pea said.

“People began to pass out and go unconscious, which added to the fear.”

A large number of patients were also treated at the site, where a field hospital had been set up. According to Pea, around 300 persons were evaluated at that location during the day.

The festival’s organisers had medical professionals and an emergency transport component, but “they were immediately overwhelmed” as the injury count grew during “truly a wild event,” according to the fire chief.

Pushing and shoving were reported by witnesses during the performances that preceded Scott’s act.

Rene Perez and Charles Alford told USA TODAY that the number of individuals fainting out or being “crushed in” by the masses astounded them.

At 286 pounds, Alford considers himself a “larger person,” but even he struggled to get past the crowds. He described himself as “helpless and afraid” since he couldn’t pull everyone out of the barriers or past the mob, no matter how hard he tried. People pushed against him as he sought to move a woman away from the stage area, and he failed to see security.

“I had a ‘I could die’ moment when I observed… virtually no one assisting victims, and I even started to fall, my chest feeling heavy. My survival instincts kicked in “Alford stated. “It was terrified since the music didn’t stop and no rescue appeared to arrive.”

Paramedics struggled to get past the masses as individuals in need cried, according to Perez. He said he observed concertgoers leap on top of golf carts and cars designated for security personnel and paramedics on many occasions.

People at festivals are typically “glad to be there and relaxed,” according to Amy Harris, a freelance photographer from the Cincinnati region. But this one was unlike the ten or more concerts she’s photographed over the past 12 summers.

She “just felt this animosity from the audience all day,” Harris said, adding that the environment made her nervous in the same way that assignments to shoot protests did last year.

During the nighttime press briefing, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner stated that detectives did not yet have identification for many of the victims.

According to Finner, the festival had 528 police officers and 755 security officials assigned to it. When the festival gates opened on Friday afternoon, there was an issue with concertgoers pushing past security and ticket scanners. However, that matter was resolved and had nothing to do with the ensuing catastrophe, according to Finner.

“Our thoughts are with the Astroworld Festival family tonight – especially those we lost and their loved ones,” concert organisers said in a tweet early Saturday. “We are committed to assisting local government in any way we can.”

Scott said on Twitter on Saturday that he was “truly saddened by what happened last night.”

“I am dedicated to collaborating with the Houston community to heal and help families in need,” he added.

The music festival was in its third year. According to the festival’s website, musicians and artists set to participate were Young Thug and YSL, Bad Bunny, Chief Keef, Tame Impala, Earth Wind & Fire, and others.

Drake joined Scott onstage at the concert, which was livestreamed by Apple Music, and afterwards shared photographs to Instagram.

Houston Police Executive Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite, who was towards the front of the throng, said the rush appeared to have “happen all at once.”

“All of a sudden, we had multiple persons down on the ground, having some form of cardiac arrest or medical incident,” Satterwhite explained. “So we immediately began administering CPR and transferring people, and that’s when I went and spoke with the promoters and Live Nation, and they decided to halt the show early in the interest of public safety.”

Finner said on Saturday that officials were looking into claims of strange conduct in the crowd surge, including a security guard who told medical examiners he felt a prick in his neck amid the turmoil and passed out while being evaluated by first responders.
According to Finner, he was revived by the opiate antidote Narcan.
The tragedy resulted in the greatest non-shooting deaths at a U.S. concert since the 2003 Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island, which killed 100 people.

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