Enlarge image
Astroworld Music Festival in Houston: "People went down and suffered a kind of cardiac arrest"
Photo: Amy Harris / AP
After a mass panic that left eight dead during the Astroworld music festival in Texas, the police have opened a criminal investigation.
Officials from the homicide and drug squads are involved in the investigation.
Dozens of people were injured in the incident on Friday evening.
The accident occurred at the Astroworld Festival, which was held in central Houston.
"The crowd began to huddle in front of the stage, causing panic and injuries," said Houston's fire chief Samuel Peña.
"People fell over, passed out, and there was additional panic."
Overdose after drug use
According to Mayor Sylvester Turner, the fatalities were between 14 and 27 years old, in one case the age is unknown.
25 festival-goers had to be hospitalized, some of them with cardiac arrest.
Apparently, many viewers had used drugs and drank alcohol.
The police said they were evaluating video recordings to investigate the cause of the mass panic.
"Within a few minutes, several people went down and had a kind of cardiac arrest," the investigators said.
Several concert-goers apparently suffered from an overdose and had to be resuscitated with the drug Narcan.
Among them was a security officer who was apparently injected with a substance in the throat by a concert-goer.
Police opened a criminal investigation into the area as well, following several unconfirmed reports after a guest injected drugs into other people.
Chaotic scenes
Visitors to the festival reported chaotic scenes.
"People were pushed and trampled, and when I was fighting my way out, I saw people lying on the ground," said a concertgoer to the AFP news agency.
Videos showed paramedics resuscitating unconscious fans in the middle of the audience as the festival went on.
According to the fire brigade, 50,000 visitors followed the concert.
The Astroworld Festival has been organized by US rapper Travis Scott since 2018.
The 29-year-old was on stage on Friday night when the mass panic began.
According to a report in the Houston Chronicle, he interrupted his performance several times due to incidents in the crowded audience.
"I am absolutely shocked by what happened last night," wrote Scott on Twitter.
His thoughts are with the families of the victims and with the injured.
All planned performances at the festival have been canceled.
rai / AFP / Reuters
