What happened at the Travis Scott Astroworld Festival?
A TRAGIC mass casualty incident happened at the Travis Scott Astroworld Festival.
Here's what we know about the incident on November 5, 2021.
What happened at the Travis Scott Astroworld Festival?
At least ten people died and hundreds were injured following a crush at the opening night of rapper Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival.
The crowd is said to have surged towards the stage while Scott was performing at the third annual Astroworld music festival at NRG Park in Houston on Friday, November 5, 2021.
A crowd of 50,000 showed up for the two-day event, which sold out within an hour of tickets going live in May 2021.
Officials in Texas said the crowd began to "compress towards the front of the stage" at around 9.15pm, sparking panic.
They transported 17 people to hospitals with 11 of them in cardiac arrest.
It is feared hundreds more were injured, including children as young as 10.
Addressing a press briefing, Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena said: “We had at least eight confirmed fatalities. We had scores of individuals injured at this event.”
He added that a "mass casualty incident" was triggered at 9.38pm and investigations are ongoing.
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Chief Pena told reporters: "At approximately 9.15pm the crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage and that caused some panic and it started causing some injuries.
"People began to fallout, become unconscious, and it created additional panic."
Several people were treated at the scene at NRG Park, where a field hospital was set up.
Turner called the incident a "tragedy on many different levels."
The tenth victim of Astroworld is nine-year-old Ezra Blount, who passed away on Sunday, November 14, 2021, after spending over a week on life support.
During the show, Ezra was on his father's shoulders when the crowd surge began.
His father lost oxygen and passed out, dropping Ezra. The child was subsequently trampled before he was taken to a hospital.
In the hospital, his family was informed that he had suffered major damage to vital organs and his brain.
What did Travis Scott say about the incident?
In a message released on Twitter, Travis Scott expressed how devastated he was by what took place at his festival.
He assured fans that he is "praying for the families and everyone impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival".
On June 29, 2023, the attorney representing Travis Scott went to the grand jury for a decision on whether or not Travis Scott is to face charges. The grand jury decided not to file criminal charges against Travis Scott.
According to , Travis Scott's attorney told the grand jury that his client shouldn't face charges for what took place at Astroworld back in 2021.
"Nothing Travis did or failed to do fits within the Texas criminal code,"
When did the festival take place?
Astroworld Festival is an annual music festival held on November 5 and 6 and run by American rapper Travis Scott.
It takes place in Houston, Texas at NRG Park, on the former site of Six Flags Astroworld.
What have the police said about the tragedy?
According to Houston Police Chief Troy Finner, organizers paused the concert when they realized how many people had been hurt.
Finner said: "At some point, the show was stopped when the crowd was surging."
He added that it was too early to determine what caused the crowd surge and urged people not to speculate.
He also called for calm and urged people not to jump to conclusions as to what caused the surge.
He said: "I think it's very important that none of us speculate.
"Nobody has all the answers."
He added that there have been several rumors surrounding the event that authorities would look into.
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He said: "We're going to do an investigation and find out because it's not fair to the producers, to anybody else involved, until we determine what happened, what caused the surge.
"We don't know, but we will find out."