At least 8 dead, hundreds injured … What we know about the crowd movement at the Astroworld festival – LCI

A night of horror. Friday night, the concert of rapper Travis Scott, who was to launch the third edition of the Astroworld Festival, an event he has been organizing in his hometown of Houston since 2018, turned into a disaster following a gigantic crowd movement. Deaths and injuries are to be deplored. LCI takes stock of what we know of this evening which degenerated.

On the evening of Friday, a crowd movement caused the death of at least 8 people during the concert of rapper Travis Scott. More than 300 people had to be treated for injuries on the spot, including minor scrapes and bruises, authorities said.

Of those hundreds of injured, 17 patients had to be taken to hospital, 11 of whom were in cardiac arrest, Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena said at a press conference outside NRG Park, where the event was held. Some victims could be as young as 10 years old, reports the BBC.

“The crowd started to rush to the front of the stage. It created a start of panic which caused injuries, people started to fall, lose consciousness and this resulted in further panic,” said the firefighter. “In the space of a few minutes, we found ourselves with several people on the ground who were having a kind of cardiac arrest”, the police added.

According to the daily The Houston ChronicleTravis Scott, joined by Canadian rapper Drake on stage, stopped his performance several times when he saw spectators in difficulty near the stage. Emergency vehicles tried on multiple occasions to calm the crowd movement, the newspaper continued, before the organizers definitively stopped the concert.

On his Twitter page this Saturday, Travis Scott said to himself “totally devastated” by the drama. “My prayers go out to the families and to all who have been touched by what happened at the Astroworld festival.” The rapper announced that he would cooperate with local authorities and bring “his support” to victims.

Harris County, Texas Judge Lina Hidalgo also called that night a “tragic”. “People go to these events looking for a good time, a chance to relax, to create memories – this is not the kind of event you go to and expect to find deaths. “, she asserted.

Houston police have opened an investigation to determine the causes of the tragedy, adding that they were examining, among other things, video footage of the evening.

The festival was started by American rapper Travis Scott in 2018, when he released his album of the same name, Astroworld. This was the 3rd edition of the event, after the previous one was canceled due to Covid-19.

A total of 50,000 people were present on Friday and the festival was to continue throughout the weekend. Several artists, such as rappers Chief Keef and 21 Savage or the Australian rock band Tame Impala, were also expected on stage.

Eight-time Grammy nominee Travis Scott, 30, announced the release of his next album Utopia by the end of the year.