At least eight people have been killed and several others injured in a crowd surge at Travis Scott's concert at the Astroworld Festival in Houston. 17 people have been hospitalized, as per Chief Samuel Peña, head of the Houston, Texas, fire department, while 11 of them had suffered a heart attack.
Dozens of ambulances, health workers, and other staff arrived on the scene, according to local authorities. About 300 people were treated for injuries such as cuts and bruises, and authorities say most of those killed at the festival were "tragically young".
On the first day of the festival, hundreds of people crowded the entrance to the event, knocking down metal detectors and the security area to enter the concert, the ABC13 news agency reported.
Travis Scott at 2021 Astroworld Festival: What happened?
The incident occurred when the crowd tried to break closer to the stage causing a panic surge. The local television station as well as Reuters reported that there was chaos on the first day of the festival after the doors opened at around 2:00 PM local time and that a crowd of people broke through the gates.
Thousands of people, according to ABC Houston, destroyed the security entrance for VIPs, bypassing the checkpoint, and some were detained. The Houston Fire Department said on Twitter that their teams were on the scene after being informed of "multiple injuries to civilians."
According to the fire service, at least two people underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The music event was attended by 50,000 people, and the festival, which was supposed to last two more days, was canceled due to the accident.
