At least eight people were killed and many more injured when they were trampled by the crowd during the opening night of Travis Scott's Astroworld Music Festival in Houston, Texas, on Friday, November 5th.
Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña confirmed the death toll during a press conference he gave in the early hours of the morning (local time) outside NRG Park.
The trampling happened around 9 or 9:15 pm, when the crowd started moving towards the front of the stage, KHOU 11 News channel Houston, which cooperates with the ABC News network, reported.
The Fire Department transported 17 injured to hospitals, the channel reported, adding that 11 of them were transported with heart failure.
According to the "Houston Chronicle", the movement of the crowd took place during the appearance of Travis Scott. A crowd of 50,000 people had gathered to watch the two-day event, the newspaper added. The second day of the festival was canceled.
Travis Scott, who founded the music festival "Astroworld" in 2018, stopped appearing several times when he noticed that the audience near the front of the stage was in a state of panic.
So far it is not known what caused the tragedy.
"I think it is very important that no one guesses at us. No one has all the answers tonight. If you do not have the facts, if you do not have proof, it is better not to talk. "We have wounded families here," said Houston Police Chief Troy Finner.
Troy Finner added that the organizers and Travis Scott are working with the police.
The company Live Nation, which was the organizer of the event, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"It all happened at once. It all seemed to happen in just a few minutes. "Suddenly we had people on the ground with some kind of heart attack or some kind of medical stroke," said Houston Police Chief Larry Satterwhite.
