Officials
in
Texas
have
revealed
that
at
least
eight
people
have
died
and
several
others
were
injured
in
a
crowd
surge
at
the
Astroworld
Festival.
Houston
fire
chief
Samuel
Pena
said
the
incident
began
at
around
9
pm
when
"the
crowd
began
to
compress
towards
the
front
of
the
stage".
According
to
reports,
approximately
50,000
people
were
in
attendance
at
the
festival.
Rapper
Travis
Scott
was
on
stage
when
the
incident
occurred
and
stopped
his
act
on
several
occasions
when
he
saw
fans
in
distress
near
the
stage,
the
Houston
Chronicle
report
revealed.
Meanwhile,
footage
from
NRG
park
circulating
on
social
media
shows
scores
of
people
rushing
the
gates
with
security
being
unable
to
contain
the
flow.
Police
chief
Larry
J
Satterwhite
said,
"Over
the
course
of
just
a
few
minutes,
suddenly
we
had
several
people
down
on
the
ground
experience
some
type
of
cardiac
arrest," adding
that
they
quickly
met
with
concert
organisers
and
ended
the
end.
According
to
officials
the
festival
has
been
cancelled
and
will
not
continue
on
Saturday.
Fire
Chief
Samuel
Pena
revealed
in
a
press
conference
that
as
crowd
began
ot
compress
toward
the
stage
it
"caused
some
panic
and
it
started
causing
some
injuries,
people
began
to
fall
out,
become
unconscious
and
it
created
additional
panic."
He
added
that
the
cause
of
death
cannot
be
confirmed
until
after
medical
exams
are
completed,
"We
had
at
least
eight
confirmed
fatalities
tonight
and
scores
of
individuals
that
were
injured.
We
transported
17
patients
to
the
hospital...
11
of
those
that
were
transported
were
in
cardiac
arrest."
For
the
unversed,
Astroworld
is
a
music
festival
created
by
Scott
and
launched
in
2018.
Apart
from
Travis,
rappers
Chief
Keef
and
21
Savage
and
Australian
rock
act
Tame
Impala
were
scheduled
to
perform
at
the
festival.