Day one of Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival turned deadly in NRG Park Friday (Nov. 5) as Houston officials claim at least eight people were killed and many more were injured. Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña told reporters during a Saturday (Nov. 6) morning press conference that the chaos started around 9:15 p.m. after the crowd began to frantically approach the stage.
“The crowd began to compress toward the front of the stage, and people began to panic,” Peña said. “We had scores of individuals that were injured.”
“People began to fall out, become unconscious and it created additional panic,” Peña added.
Officials believe nearly 50,000 people attended the sold-out festival, which featured performances by Lil Baby, Master P, Roddy Rich, SZA, Scott, and surprise guest Drake.
Peña said that over 300 people were treated at a hospital tent stationed near the festival. At least 23 patients — including a 10-year-old — were transported to nearby hospitals by Houston Fire Department and Harris County medics. The majority of them, he said, were in cardiac arrest.
Authorities were unable to identify the eight people who had died at the event by the time of the press conference and the causes of death had not been determined yet by a medical examiner.
Several concertgoers shared videos on social media of the frenzy that occurred. In one clip, Scott stops the concert and asks for security to help someone in the audience quickly. In another video, shared earlier in the day by ABC13 Houston reporter Mycah Hatfield, hundreds of people can be seen destroying the VIP security entrance. “People were trampled. Some were detained,” she tweeted.
Houston Police Executive Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite witnessed the events unfold from near the front of the stage.“Suddenly we had several people down on the ground, experiencing some type of cardiac arrest or some type of medical episode,” Satterwhite told reporters. “And so we immediately started doing CPR and moving people right then, and that’s when I went and met with the promoters and Live Nation, and they agreed to end early in the interest of public safety.”
Astroworld organizers have canceled the second day of the festival. And they released the following statement via Twitter: “Our hearts are with the Astroworld Festival family tonight – especially those we lost and their loved ones. We are focused on supporting local officials however we can. With that in mind the festival will no longer be held on Saturday.”
Check out the official statement and more videos from day 1 of Astroworld Festival below: