A crush of fans pushing toward the stage during rap star Travis Scott's Astroworld music festival in Houston killed at least eight people and injured dozens more as panic rippled through the crowd of largely young concertgoers, officials said on Saturday.
A festival patron is seen leading flowers outside of the canceled Astroworld festival at NRG Park on 6 November in Houston, Texas. Photo: AFP / Getty
City Police Chief Troy Finner said his department has opened a criminal investigation by homicide and narcotics detectives following unconfirmed reports that someone in the audience "was injecting other people with drugs."
The disaster unfolded at NRG Park at around 9:30 p.m. on Friday during the headline performance by Scott, a Grammy-nominated singer and producer, following what police and members of the crowd described as an escalation of unruly behavior.
"It happened all at once. It seemed like it just happened ... over the course of just a few minutes," said Houston Police Executive Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite, who was at the front of the event when the situation began.
Satterwhite said he immediately met with promoters and they agreed to halt the show. Officials said the concert was brought to an end by 10:10 p.m.
Finner said that among the "narratives" under review by police were reports suggesting "some individual was injecting other people with drugs."
One report involved a security officer "who felt a prick in his neck" as he was trying to restrain or grab someone and then fell unconscious, only to be revived with a dose of the opioid antidote NARCAN, Finner said, citing an account from medical personnel who treated the officer.
Finner said the medical staff also noticed what appeared to be a needle mark on the officer's neck.
It was not clear whether authorities suspected such an episode played a role in the crowd surge, but Finner said, "we're going to get down to the bottom of it."
"My prayers go out to the families all those impacted by what happened," the rapper Travis Scott said in a statement on Twitter.
"I'm absolutely devastated by what took place last night," he said.
Emergency workers described how panic broke out after the crowd began to press toward the front of the stage during the rapper's headline set during the evening.
As the crush began causing injuries to people, the panic grew and the casualties quickly overwhelmed the on site first aiders, officials said.
— TRAVIS SCOTT (@trvisXX) November 6, 2021
Eleven people were taken to hospital with cardiac arrests, with eight of them dying. Some 300 people were treated for injuries such as cuts and bruises.
In his first statement since the tragedy, the rapper thanked the police and emergency services and said he was "committed to working together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need".
Some 50,000 people were attending the two-day outdoor event, which has now been cancelled.
Festival patrons talk to a security guard outside the cancelled AstroWorld festival venue in Houston, Texas. Photo: 2021 Getty Images
According to the Houston Chronicle, Scott stopped multiple times during his performance when he spotted fans in distress near the front of the stage.
The rapper asked security to help them out of the crowd. Emergency vehicles cut through the crowds several times with lights and alarms flashing, the paper says.
Amateur video from the concert appears to show fans jumping on an emergency vehicle in the crowd as the performance continues on stage.
Edward, who attended the concert, told the BBC that he saw people "clawing back out of the crowd, almost all of them crying".
"I personally had a girl grab and hold on to me for dear life. I had to calm her down first because she literally thought she was about to die," he said.
"I created a circle with my arms and let her catch her breath and escorted her through a small path that was just about to close again."
A reunification centre has been set up at the Wyndham Houston Hotel for families who have not heard from loved ones at the festival.
Astroworld is an annual event held at NRG Park since 2018, though it was put on pause last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Travis Scott, 29, made his big breakthrough in 2013 and has since had eight nominations for Grammy Awards. He has a child with celebrity socialite Kylie Jenner, who also attended the concert.
Other acts scheduled at the festival over the weekend included rappers Chief Keef and 21 Savage, and Australian rock act Tame Impala.
-BBC
