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Rapper Travis Scott ‘devastated’ by deaths of eight at Astroworld festival; Houston officials investigating

Rapper Travis Scott stated in a video Saturday night time that he couldn’t have imagined the “severity of the state of affairs” at Friday’s Astroworld competition in Houston, the place eight folks died after a crowd surge.

“I am truthfully simply devastated. I may by no means think about something like this simply occurring,” Scott stated in an Instagram story posted on his account.

The video seemed to be the primary time Scott has spoken on digicam publicly in regards to the live performance. He launched a written assertion on social media earlier Saturday.

“I wish to ship out prayers to those that was misplaced final night time,” he stated within the video. “We’re truly working proper now to determine their households so we might help help them by means of this robust time.”

The victims’ identities and reason for demise haven’t but been launched, however Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner stated Saturday one was 14, one other was 16, two had been 21, two had been 23, one was 27 and one particular person’s age has not been decided.

The Harris County Medical Institute of Forensic Sciences on Saturday requested the general public’s assist figuring out one of many victims, a person in his early 20s with brief, darkish wavy hair, a slight mustache and a goatee. The person, who was about 6-foot-2 and weighed 498 kilos, was sporting measurement 11 white Nike sneakers.

Greater than 300 folks had been handled all through the occasion Friday at an on-site subject hospital, officers stated. Of the 25 individuals who had been taken to hospitals, 13 remained hospitalized Saturday. A ten-year-old among the many injured is in vital situation.

“My followers actually imply the world to me and I at all times simply actually wish to depart them with a constructive expertise,” Scott stated within the video. “Anytime I could make out … something that is happening, I might cease the present and … assist them get the assistance they want.”

He added that he may “by no means think about the severity of the state of affairs.”

The chaos unfolded Friday shortly after 9 p.m. native time when the group of fifty,000 “started to compress towards the entrance of the stage,” Houston hearth Chief Samuel Peña stated at a information convention early Saturday.

Houston police Chief Troy Finner stated Saturday afternoon that a couple of folks began “happening” at 9:30 p.m. He stated officers knowledgeable producers of what was occurring, and the present ended at about 10:10 p.m.

Finner defended the period of time that handed earlier than the live performance ended. He stated there was a dialogue between promoters, the fireplace and police departments and NRG Park officers.

“You can’t simply shut while you’ve obtained over 50,000 people,” he stated, citing the chance of riots.

The division is conducting a prison investigation into what occurred, with the involvement of the murder and narcotics divisions, Finner stated.

ICU nurse Madeline Eskins, from Spring, Texas, was among the many attendees who out of the blue felt a crush of our bodies and have become unable to breathe.

She stated she momentarily misplaced consciousness and her boyfriend helped get her out of the group. When she regained consciousness, Eskins noticed folks “bleeding from their nostril and mouth,” she stated in an Instagram submit.

Eskins informed NBC Information that there have been not sufficient medics or medical provides, together with defibrillator machines and IV kits, to assist the injured.

“There was just one stretcher for 3 folks out the place I used to be at,” she stated. “There was no IV equipment. There was nothing to provide them.”

Peña, the fireplace chief, stated on the information convention {that a} non-public, third-party contractor supplied medical doctors, medical EMT’s and volunteers, and stated he couldn’t communicate to the tools they’d.

“The extent of accidents, the variety of folks in that venue rapidly overwhelmed the third-party distributors that had been offering the safety and the medical part,” he stated. “We rapidly had been capable of reply.”

The fireplace division had staged ambulances across the venue in case one thing occurred, and requested extra models when the state of affairs escalated, Peña stated.

He stated the group surge is underneath investigation, and that it was crowd management on the level of the stage that triggered the problem.

Greater than 500 Houston Police Division officers supplied safety on the occasion and a further 755 non-public safety officers had been supplied by the leisure firm Reside Nation.

A spokesperson for NRG Park, the place the live performance was held, stated they had been “deeply saddened by the heartbreaking lack of life and ache skilled by all these impacted by this tragedy.”

Scott, 29, launched the Astroworld Competition in 2018 in his hometown of Houston as an annual occasion. The competition made its return Friday after a hiatus in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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