At least 8 dead after ‘mass casualty incident’ at Travis Scott show in Houston – National
A minimum of eight individuals died and quite a few others had been injured in what officers described as a surge of the group on the Astroworld music competition in Houston whereas rapper Travis Scott was performing.
Officers declared a “mass casualty incident” simply after 9 p.m. Friday through the competition the place an estimated 50,000 individuals had been in attendance, Houston Fireplace Chief Samuel Pena instructed reporters at a information convention.
“The gang started to compress in the direction of the entrance of the stage, and that prompted some panic, and it began inflicting some accidents,” the hearth chief stated. “Folks started to fall out, turn into unconscious, and it created extra panic.”
The present was referred to as off shortly thereafter. The fireplace chief stated “scores of people” had been injured.
Officers transported 17 individuals to hospitals, together with 11 who had been in cardiac arrest, Pena stated. It wasn’t clear whether or not all eight who died had been among the many 17 that had been transported to hospitals. Many individuals had been additionally handled on the scene at NRG Park, the place a subject hospital had been arrange. About 300 individuals had been examined at that website all through the day, he stated.
Astroworld is a two-day music competition that was scheduled to happen Friday and Saturday in Houston. The occasion was bought out, based on the Astroworld web site. Saturday’s performances have been canceled.
The deaths referred to as to thoughts a 1979 live performance for The Who the place 11 individuals died and about two dozen had been injured as hundreds of followers tried to get into Cincinnati’s riverfront coliseum.
Scott, one in every of music’s largest younger stars, launched two new songs earlier Friday, “Mafia” and “Escape Plan.” The 29-year-old Houston native has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards. He has a 3-year-old daughter, Stormi, with Kylie Jenner, who introduced in September that she’s pregnant with their second baby.
Drake joined Scott on-stage on the live performance — which was livestreamed by Apple Music — and posted images to Instagram after the efficiency.
Occasion promoters had organized for medical models to be on scene on the competition, nevertheless as soon as the group surge started, these models had been “shortly overwhelmed,” Pena stated.
In a video posted to social media, Scott could possibly be seen stopping the live performance at one level and asking for assist for somebody within the viewers: “Safety, any person assist actual fast.”
Learn extra:
30 Veld Music Festival concertgoers taken to hospital with overdoses: Toronto Paramedics
Houston Police Govt Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite was close to the entrance of the group and stated it appeared the surge “occurred suddenly.”
“All of the sudden we had a number of individuals down on the bottom, experiencing some kind of cardiac arrest or some kind of medical episode,” Satterwhite stated. “And so we instantly began doing CPR, and shifting individuals proper then, and that’s after I went and met with the promoters, and Stay Nation, and so they agreed to finish early within the curiosity of public security.”
Pena stated officers didn’t instantly know the causes of loss of life for the eight individuals who died. A health worker would examine. The deceased had not been recognized as of early Saturday.
Officers arrange a reunification heart at a resort for members of the family who had not been in a position to attain family members who had been in attendance on the occasion. Authorities had been trying to join households with festivalgoers who had been transported to the hospital, “some as younger as 10” years previous, Harris County Decide Lina Hidalgo stated.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner referred to as for calm and urged individuals to not soar to conclusions as to what prompted the surge.
“I feel it’s essential that none of us speculate. No one has all of the solutions tonight,” Finner stated. He added that there have been a number of rumors surrounding the occasion that authorities would look into.
“We’re going to do an investigation and discover out as a result of it’s not truthful to the producers, to anyone else concerned, till we decide what occurred, what prompted the surge,” he stated. “We don’t know, however we are going to discover out.”
The Related Press reached out to a consultant for Scott however didn’t instantly hear again.
Finner instructed reporters that Scott and the occasion promoters cooperated with police.
Scott based Astroworld Competition in 2018 and it has taken place on the former website of Six Flags AstroWorld annually since, aside from in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Different music occasions the place there have been a number of fatalities lately embrace the Las Vegas bloodbath in 2017 when 58 individuals had been killed on the Route 91 Harvest Competition, the so-called Ghost Ship hearth in 2016 that killed 36 individuals in California and the 2003 Station nightclub hearth that killed 100 individuals in Rhode Island.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
