8 die in festival crush
Hundreds hurt as young fans surge towards stage
At least eightght fans were killed and hundredsundreds injured after a crowd crush at a music festival.
Rapper Travis Scott was performing in front of a sell- out audience of 50,000 when excited youngsters surged towards the stage, triggering a mass panic.
Dozens collapsed while others t rampled over them at the Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas, at 9pm on Friday.
Minutes later the chaos was declared a “mass casualty incident” – while the rapper continued with his 75- minute performance and other fans unaware of the unfolding tragedy carried on snapping him. One sur v ivor sa id af terwards: “It felt l ike we were in a concert in hell – you couldn’t breathe, you couldn’t see.” Paramedics performed CPR on several concert-goers on the ground. Seventeen victims were taken to hospital, with 11 of those in cardiac arrest. An emergency field hospital was set up at the festival site at the city’s NRG park.
More than 300 fans, including children as young as 10, were treated for injuries like cuts and bruises. Houston fire chief Samuel Pena said: “We had at least eight confirmed fatalities and scores of individuals who were injured.
“The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage and that caused some panic and it started causing some injuries.
“People began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic.”
Local county judge Lina Hidalgo said: “Our hearts are broken. People go to these events looking for a good time, a chance to unwind, to make memories – it’s not the kind of event you go to where you expect fatalities.”
Hidalgo said many of those killed at the festival were tragically young – with the toll expected to rise.
Last night Texas governor Greg Abbott said: “Our hearts are with those whoho lost their lives and thosese who were injured inn the terrifying crowd surge.rge.
“Thank you to the first respondersers and good
Samar itanstans who were onn site and imme-med i a t e l yy t e nd e d to those who were injured in the crowd.”
Scott, 30, who founded the festival, stopped several times during his performance when he spotted fans in distress near the stage.
The multi-million dollar rapper, singer and producer asked security guards to help them out of the crowd.
Scott’s pregnant girlfriend Kylie Jenner, 24, from the TV reality star Kardashian family, was also watching his set alongside the pair’s three-year-old daughter Stormi.
Only hours before the disaster, hundreds of teenagers overwhelmed security officials at an entrance to the festival and ran in for free.
A reunif ication centre was set up at the Wyndham Houston Hotel for families who had not heard from loved ones.
YesterdaYesterday’s second day of thet festival was cancancelled.
AstroworldAstro said in a statstatement their hearts were with the “festivfestival family… especially thoseth we lost and their lovloved ones”.