“Lethal chaos unfolded at the Astroworld music festival in Houston on the night of Friday, November 5th. Eight people died in a crush of panic, two died in the hospital due to serious injury, and now we want to know what happened.” -- Bella Schainker, 8th Grade
The dense crowd of Houston’s Astroworld Music Festival surged toward the stage as concert headliner, rapper Travis Scott, performed on Friday night, November 5th. Concertgoers were crushed against each other in the surge, causing 10 deaths and many injuries.
Attendees of the crowd at Scott’s performance reported what they witnessed. “Once he started, all hell broke loose. All of what is to be 50,000 people ran to the front, compressing everyone together with the little air available,” a concertgoer, Alexis Guavin, told CNN. “Luckily, I have mosh pit experience and am six feet tall so I could at least put my head up to breathe, but others [were] not so fortunate.”
Attendees of the crowd at Scott’s performance reported what they witnessed. “Once he started, all hell broke loose. All of what is to be 50,000 people ran to the front, compressing everyone together with the little air available,” a concertgoer, Alexis Guavin, told CNN. “Luckily, I have mosh pit experience and am six feet tall so I could at least put my head up to breathe, but others [were] not so fortunate.”
Another report was made by Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña who explained, “The crowd for whatever reason began to push and surge towards the front of the stage, which caused the people in the front to be compressed--they were unable to escape that situation.”
“You know, my pits are an intense atmosphere and the kids obviously love it,” Scott initially responded as reported by the podcast Today, Explained. “And up until this incident they wanted to be as intense as humanly possible. And that's the experience they're showing up for.”brings up one of Travis Scott’s initial responses saying, The intensity of his concert experiences could easily be seen as an opposition to the safety of attendees.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced on Saturday evening that the victims' ages ranged between 14-27 with one left unknown. There are no people reported missing, at least 25 people were transported to the hospital and of those, 13 remained hospitalized until Saturday afternoon. Since Turner’s announcement, two victims have died of injuries in the hospital, a nine year old boy, Ezra Blount and a 22 year old woman, Bharti Shahani who remained hospitalized until her passing—raising the death toll of the incident to ten.
“You know, my pits are an intense atmosphere and the kids obviously love it,” Scott initially responded as reported by the podcast Today, Explained. “And up until this incident they wanted to be as intense as humanly possible. And that's the experience they're showing up for.”brings up one of Travis Scott’s initial responses saying, The intensity of his concert experiences could easily be seen as an opposition to the safety of attendees.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced on Saturday evening that the victims' ages ranged between 14-27 with one left unknown. There are no people reported missing, at least 25 people were transported to the hospital and of those, 13 remained hospitalized until Saturday afternoon. Since Turner’s announcement, two victims have died of injuries in the hospital, a nine year old boy, Ezra Blount and a 22 year old woman, Bharti Shahani who remained hospitalized until her passing—raising the death toll of the incident to ten.
The situation escalated as a countdown clock neared the moment Travis Scott would appear on stage at 9:30pm. The investigation has raised questions around the chaotic situation Friday, alleged safety issues at Scott’s previous performances, as well as prior issues with the venue and event’s promoter.
Furthermore, crowd safety have spoken out regarding the preventability of this tragedy. “...identifying density is your key management issue. So we know the physics of crowd surges and crowd collapse,” said Professor Dr. G. Keith Still, a crowd safety scientist interviewed on Today, Explained: Astroworld. “We know the physics of restrictive or constrictive asphyxia. What we need to do is prevent those conditions ever getting up to that threshold. So there's a red line as far as crowd density is concerned.” .
Professor Still brings up possible prevention, including separating the performances into their own enclosed spaces. Allowing X number of people into controlled areas so that they never reach that critical density where the surges can be life threatening. There's a serious risk to life and limb via falls and suffocation in high density situations.
According to Vulture, authorities claimed that the venue met restrictions for safe entry and exit. The venue could have handled 200,000 people under city fire codes but the festival limited that number to 50,000 for the performance. However, it’s unclear how many people were at the venue at the time of the incident given that some non–ticket holders had breached barriers earlier in the day.
An emergency vehicle was spotted in the audience and acknowledged by Scott, who said, “There’s an ambulance in the crowd. Whoa, whoa, whoa,” before resuming his set by telling the audience, “Y’all know what you came to do.” At one point, the rapper paused and said, “Hold, hold, hold, we need some help, somebody passed out right here. Security, let’s get in there.” But the performance continued despite some festival attendees repeatedly chanting, “Stop the show!” The concert went on for 40 more minutes, according to what Houston Police Chief Troy Finner told CNN.
Furthermore, crowd safety have spoken out regarding the preventability of this tragedy. “...identifying density is your key management issue. So we know the physics of crowd surges and crowd collapse,” said Professor Dr. G. Keith Still, a crowd safety scientist interviewed on Today, Explained: Astroworld. “We know the physics of restrictive or constrictive asphyxia. What we need to do is prevent those conditions ever getting up to that threshold. So there's a red line as far as crowd density is concerned.” .
Professor Still brings up possible prevention, including separating the performances into their own enclosed spaces. Allowing X number of people into controlled areas so that they never reach that critical density where the surges can be life threatening. There's a serious risk to life and limb via falls and suffocation in high density situations.
According to Vulture, authorities claimed that the venue met restrictions for safe entry and exit. The venue could have handled 200,000 people under city fire codes but the festival limited that number to 50,000 for the performance. However, it’s unclear how many people were at the venue at the time of the incident given that some non–ticket holders had breached barriers earlier in the day.
An emergency vehicle was spotted in the audience and acknowledged by Scott, who said, “There’s an ambulance in the crowd. Whoa, whoa, whoa,” before resuming his set by telling the audience, “Y’all know what you came to do.” At one point, the rapper paused and said, “Hold, hold, hold, we need some help, somebody passed out right here. Security, let’s get in there.” But the performance continued despite some festival attendees repeatedly chanting, “Stop the show!” The concert went on for 40 more minutes, according to what Houston Police Chief Troy Finner told CNN.
The horror of the Astroworld tragedy brought an early end to what was supposed to be a two-day event, as Saturday's portion was canceled entirely.
Per the LA Times, Scott tweeted that he was “devastated” by the tragic events of Friday's performance and pledged his “total support” to law enforcement investigating the incident, reflected further on Saturday via Travis Scott’s Instagram and Twitter.
Scott is still reeling in the aftermath of the Astroworld tragedy. Since the devastating incident, the rapper has been leaning on his partner, Kylie Jenner, to get through this mourning phase. Throughout the investigation, Scott (whose real name is Jacques Bermon Webster) has been "in a state of shock" and remains involved with efforts to stay in contact with the victim's families. Scott is planning to cover funeral costs for the eight victims that died at his Astroworld Festival and possibly those who died in the hospitals.
R&B singer SZA, a previous collaborator with Scott and performer at Astroworld, hit pause during one of her performances in Salt Lake City, Utah, to address the tragedy after a fan present in the audience at her show passed out and needed medical attention.
A memorial for the "Astroworld Ten" has since been set up outside of the festival grounds at NRG Park in Houston in remembrance of the attendees that died in the mayhem.
Per the LA Times, Scott tweeted that he was “devastated” by the tragic events of Friday's performance and pledged his “total support” to law enforcement investigating the incident, reflected further on Saturday via Travis Scott’s Instagram and Twitter.
Scott is still reeling in the aftermath of the Astroworld tragedy. Since the devastating incident, the rapper has been leaning on his partner, Kylie Jenner, to get through this mourning phase. Throughout the investigation, Scott (whose real name is Jacques Bermon Webster) has been "in a state of shock" and remains involved with efforts to stay in contact with the victim's families. Scott is planning to cover funeral costs for the eight victims that died at his Astroworld Festival and possibly those who died in the hospitals.
R&B singer SZA, a previous collaborator with Scott and performer at Astroworld, hit pause during one of her performances in Salt Lake City, Utah, to address the tragedy after a fan present in the audience at her show passed out and needed medical attention.
A memorial for the "Astroworld Ten" has since been set up outside of the festival grounds at NRG Park in Houston in remembrance of the attendees that died in the mayhem.
