Casualties Shutdown Astroworld Fest

November 06, 2021

Prayers up.

10 people have died and hundreds were injured following a deadly crowd surge at Travis Scott’s performance at his Astroworld festival.

The ages of the casualties range from 9 to 27-years-old, while one of the victim’s ages remains unknown. Since the incident on November 5, a 22-year-old woman passed away from her injuries days later and a 9-year-old boy died after being placed in a coma.

Houston’s ABC News reports over 50,000 people were in attendance when the melee at the sold-out outdoor music festival at NRG Park when the incident began at 9:15 p.m. CT, officials said. “The crowd began to compress toward the front of the stage, and people began to panic,” said Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña.

More than 300 individuals were treated at a field hospital since the event began from a series of stampedes, including a breach at an entrance gate when the park opened, to the fatal surge in the evening.

Houston Police Department’s Executive Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite was among the 367 police officers and 241 security officers on-duty at the festival. “Once we started having the mass casualty incident, they were starting CPR on several people, and it happened all at once,” Satterwhite said during an early morning press conference. “It seemed like it happened over the course of just a few minutes. Suddenly, we had several people down on the ground experiencing some type of cardiac arrest or some type of medical episode.”

Festival founder and headliner Travis Scott was on stage with surprise guest Drake before the incident happened. Various footage posted online shows countless attendees demanding to stop the show and Travis pausing his set a few times, but was unaware of its severity.

In wake of the tragic event, both Travis and Drake have issued apologies and have received numerous lawsuits from the victims. Travis canceled the festival’s second day as well as a series of upcoming gigs including his headlining act at the A Day N Vegas festival the following weekend. Travis has also provided refunds to all Astroworld ticket holders and announced he will cover funeral costs for the victims.

Photo: Amy Harris

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