At least 8 dead and 300 injured in a 'mass casualty' event after the crowd surged at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival in Houston
- Eight people are reported to have died, and many have been injured at Travis Scott's Astroworld event in Houston.
- The incident occurred when the crowds surged while Scott was performing on Friday night.
At least eight people died and hundreds others were injured as crowds surged at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival in Houston on Friday night.
Officials said Saturday the fatalities included a 14-year-old, a 16-year-old, two 21-year-olds, two 23-year-olds, a 27-year-old, and another person whose age was unknown.
About 50,000 people compressed toward the stage at around 9:38 p.m. while rapper Scott was performing at NRG Park, Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña told reporters at a news conference.
"The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage, and that caused some panic, and it started causing some injuries," Peña said. "People began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic."
He said it triggered a "mass casualty" event. Twenty-five people were transported to nearby hospitals, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said, 11 of which experienced cardiac arrest, according to Peña.
More than 300 people were treated at the scene at a field hospital set up in NRG Park, NBC DFW said.
Those injured included a child as young as 10, reports said.
Video footage captured at the event showed festivalgoers dancing on top of ambulances and causing a stampede. Fans broke down a fence and one man described the event as a "concert in hell."
An officer who witnessed the chaos said it happened "all at once," local outlet KPRC-TV reported.
"It seemed like it happened over the course of just a few minutes," he said. "Suddenly, we had several people down on the ground experiencing some type of cardiac arrest or medical episode, and so we immediately started doing CPR and moving people."At the press conference, local politician Lina Hidalgo, county judge of Harris County, said that it was an "extremely tragic night."
"Our hearts are broken," she said. "People go to these events looking for a good time, a chance to unwind, to make memories - it's not the kind of event you go to where you expect to find out about fatalities."
Organizers ended the event and canceled the second day of the festival.
No cause of death has been given for the eight people who died, pending an investigation by the medical examiner, the fire chief said.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said at a news conference Saturday it's important not to speculate over what happened, but confirmed that "there were some individuals who were trampled."
"Nobody could dream of this," Finner said at a news conference earlier on Saturday.
Authorities also set up a "reunification center" to try and reunite people with missing family members.
A Twitter account for Astroworld offered condolences to the families who lost their loved ones. "We are focused on supporting local officials however we can," the account said, adding that the police are looking into the cardiac arrests.
Scott issued his own statement on Saturday saying he's "absolutely devastated" at the fatalities and injuries.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in a statement posted to Twitter thanked the emergency personnel who responded to the situation and said the state stands "ready to assist" as needed.
Social media users have been posting devastating accounts of their own experiences at the festival.
An Instagrammer who attended described a disturbing scene in which medics scrambled to respond to the chaos. The attendee said she's an ICU nurse and that she had to step in and help people passing out after she herself regained consciousness.
Other eyewitnesses told Insider's Joshua Zitser that they were pleading for the show to be stopped as people in the crowd fell unconscious and others panicked.