23/11/2021
large crowd began pushing toward the front of the stage. Video showed crowds amassing earlier in the day, as about 50,000 people attended the festival.Credit...Image by Amy Harris/Invision, via Associated Press
At least eight people were killed, ranging in age from 14 to 27, and dozens more were injured at a music festival in Houston on Friday night after a large crowd began pushing toward the front of the stage, city officials said at a news conference Saturday afternoon.
The crowd surge, during a performance by the rapper Travis Scott, “caused some panic, and it started causing some injuries,” the city’s fire chief, Samuel Peña, said Saturday morning. The concert was part of the Astroworld music festival, a two-day event that began on Friday. About 50,000 people were there on Friday night, according to the Fire Department.
“It was like hell,” said Nick Johnson, 17, who still had his concert bracelet on as he spoke Saturday morning. “Everybody was just in the back, trying to rush to the front.”