Astroworld Pageant: Authorities are investigating how viewers members weren't in a position to escape a lethal crowd surge

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The group on the sold-out Astroworld Pageant on Friday night time was so tightly packed that when viewers members had been pushed towards the stage, some advised CNN that they had been crushed towards one another to the purpose the place they could not breathe and handed out.

Native officers vowed to launch an investigation into what led to the tragedy on the music pageant headlined and arranged by rapper Travis Scott, saying they may evaluation video from the scene and assess how the venue was laid out.

The investigation will cowl “what brought on, one, the difficulty of the group surge, and two, what prevented individuals from with the ability to escape that scenario,” Houston Fireplace Chief Sam Peña stated Saturday.

The Houston Police Division’s murder and narcotics divisions are concerned within the probe, however the investigation isn’t being handled as a felony one, police stated.

“We’re definitely the entire video footage, we’re speaking to witnesses, we’re speaking to occasion organizers,” Houston mayor Sylvester Turner advised CNN on Saturday. “This occurred at one of many county amenities final night time, so we’re every part.”

The chaos despatched at the least 25 individuals to the hospital, and 13 of them remained there Saturday afternoon, Turner stated. 5 of them are below the age of 18, he stated.

The ages of the victims who died ranged from 14 to 27, and the age of 1 one that was killed stays unknown, Turner stated.

The causes of their deaths are pending the health worker’s dedication, Peña stated.

With 50,000 individuals in attendance at NRG Park — the stadium complicated the place the Astrodome and the NRG Stadium stand — the group surge started unfolding after 9 p.m. CT on Friday.

“The group for no matter motive started to push and surge in direction of the entrance of the stage, which brought on the individuals within the entrance to be compressed — they had been unable to flee that scenario,” Peña advised CNN.

Scott was on the outside stage when he paused and appeared on the crowd in confusion as an ambulance with flashing lights moved via the viewers, according to a video of the occasion.

On Saturday, Scott posted on his Instagram account’s story that he is sending out prayers to the lives misplaced, including that he is been working with Houston authorities.

“I am actually simply devastated,” Scott stated as he repeatedly sighed and rubbed his brow. “We’re really working proper now to establish the households so we can assist help them via this powerful time.”

‘It felt like we had been drowning in a pool stuffed of simply individuals’

With scores of individuals injured as they had been pushed toward the stage, some viewers members advised CNN that they could not breathe and thought they may die.

Sarai Sierra, who went to the pageant to rejoice her birthday, stated she noticed a number of individuals who couldn’t breathe after Scott appeared on stage.

“I really thought that if I fell it could’ve been the tip of me. I spent at the least quarter-hour simply getting pushed round on account of mosh pits or just because individuals had been ‘raging,'” Sierra stated.

Sierra, who attended the pageant with family and friends, added that she noticed about 20 individuals who couldn’t breathe, together with one one that suffered a seizure earlier than her eyes.

“It felt like we had been drowning in a pool stuffed of simply individuals,” she stated.

Nick Johnson and Angel Rodriguez, who additionally went to the pageant, stated a crowded ambiance constructed up over an prolonged time frame.

“It was occurring for over two hours,” Johnson stated. “It simply acquired worse and worse, everybody’s like, you simply cannot breathe, you simply really feel like there is a weighted blanket on you.”

And as soon as individuals had been pushed towards the stage, respiration acquired more difficult, Rodriguez defined.

“Once you get pushed again, individuals all the time fall over,” Rodriguez stated.

Safety officer fell unconscious

In 2019, the pageant handled the same circumstance as three people were trampled and hospitalized as hundreds rushed to get into the pageant.

Officers ramped up safety after the 2019 trampling incident, gearing 528 Houston cops on the live performance and a further 755 non-public safety personnel, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner stated.

Nonetheless, one safety officer was struck within the neck throughout the live performance whereas attempting to restrain an viewers member.

“When he was examined, he went unconscious. They administered Narcan,” Finner stated throughout a information convention Saturday. “He was revived and the medical employees did discover a prick much like what you’d get if any person was attempting to inject. That’s one a part of it.”

Moreover, there have been a number of different incidents Friday the place the drug was administered, Peña stated.

Narcan is a drug used to deal with narcotic overdoses.

Different makes an attempt to avoid wasting lives included some individuals administering CPR. Former Marine Lucas Naccarati stated he carried out CPR on two individuals who handed out.

“That was a special world. I instantly thought, ‘this isn’t OK. Somebody goes to die right here,” he advised CNN. “I’ve by no means seen a mass quantity of our bodies dropping that quick earlier than.”

CNN’s Melissa Alonso, Maya Brown, Keith Allen, Jenn Selva, Andy Rose, Artemis Moshtaghian, Jason Hanna and Claudia Dominguez contributed to this report.

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