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Rapper Travis Scott at the Astroworld Festival: During his performance there was a fatal crush
Photo: SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP
At around 2 p.m. on Friday, the Astroworld Festival in the US city of Houston opened its doors to tens of thousands of guests.
A few hours later, the music event turned into a nightmare.
At around 9:30 p.m. during a concert by rapper Travis Scott, a deadly mass panic broke out in the crowd.
At least eight people were killed and more than 300 others were injured.
"Everyone who stood in front was crushed," reports DJ Billy Nasser of the Houston Chronicle.
According to his own statements, the 24-year-old has already attended more than 50 Travis Scott concerts.
He also wanted to mingle with the audience at the Astroworld Festival during the rapper's performance.
When the first four or five songs were played, everything was still fine.
Then the crowd increased and the first concert-goers fell.
"The crowd moved so much that people fell over and then tripped over other people on the ground," Nasser is quoted by the Houston Chronicle as saying.
His observations coincide with the first statements of the responsible security forces.
"The crowd began to huddle in front of the stage, causing panic and injuries," said Houston's chief fire officer Samuel Peña at a press conference.
Some people fell and lost consciousness - that also caused panic.
Deadly crush is said to have arisen within minutes
"It all happened at once," Assistant Superintendent Larry Satterwhite told the Houston Chronicle.
The deadly mass panic seems to have arisen within a few minutes.
According to official information, around 55 fire brigade units were called to the scene.
They immediately started resuscitating several people.
17 people were admitted to the hospital.
According to fire chief Peña, the official causes of death are not yet known and will be examined by a forensic doctor.
The eight deceased early on Saturday had not yet been identified either.
In a statement from early Saturday morning, the organizers of the festival expressed their condolences and called for information that could lead to the investigation of the incident to be passed on to the police.
"Our hearts are with the Astroworld Festival family tonight - especially those we have lost and with their loved ones," the written statement continues.
Travis Scott himself has not yet commented.
The musician and producer, who has already worked with numerous well-known US music greats, comes from Houston and launched the festival in 2018.
Scott is known for his quirky stage shows and aggressive audiences.
He himself describes his fans as "Rager", derived from the English word "rage", which translates as "anger".
Even during the concert as part of the Astroworld Festival, the rapper's supporters are said to have lived up to their nickname eyewitnesses.
In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, a concertgoer described the crowd as aggressive.
She received several blows.
"I've never been to a music festival with so many angry people," she said.
According to the US media, the two-day festival was sold out, and 50,000 spectators had come to Houston.
Artists like SZA and Bad Bunny should appear.
The event was canceled after the incident.
Travis Scott had started the Astroworld Festival in 2018 - the year in which the rapper also released an album of the same name.
Scott described the title as a nostalgic homage to an amusement park called "Astroworld" that had closed a few years earlier in his hometown of Houston: "That took the fun out of town."
In 2020, when the real festival had to be canceled due to corona, Scott had staged a virtual replacement event in the Fortnite game world.
Police ask to refrain from speculation
The police are now working to reconstruct the events.
The authorities are currently investigating various leads to investigate the incident, said police chief Troy Finner.
“We don't know what exactly happened.
But we'll find out. «They wanted to evaluate videos of the concert, the organizers had promised to cooperate with the authorities.
Finner also warned against spreading rumors.
Nobody could have imagined the events of the evening, he said.
“But we're here, and I think it's very important that neither of us speculate.
Nobody has all the answers tonight, ”he said, according to media reports.
Finner referred to rumors that people had been injected with drugs at the concert.
As several media outlets reported, many people have not yet been able to reach their family members who had attended the concert.
According to fire chief Peña, a center for relatives and concert-goers has been set up in a hotel.
Kevin Rosario, who came from Florida for the festival, told the Houston Chronicle, "It's scary to know we had a great time and for others it was the last night of their lives."
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