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Houston Fire Department Chief Samuel Peña confirmed fatalities and multiple injuries at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival event held in Houston on November 5. As of this writing, eight people have been confirmed dead and 17 rushed to the hospital, of which 11 were in cardiac arrest.
An investigation is ongoing and officials are yet to establish the exact cause of the incident. However, Pena did reveal that the crowd "compressed" and pushed towards the front of the stage, which led to panic. As many as 300 people were treated at the sold-out event headlined by the rapper.
KHOU 11 News tweeted statement:
"HFD Chief Sam Pena: At around 9 or 9:15, the crowd began to compress toward the front of the stage and that caused panic and people were getting injured. HFD transported 17 people to hospitals."
During the press briefing, Pena shared additional information that would help families find those who were at the concert and are unreachable at the moment.
He said:
"If you have a relative who was at the event and you've not spoken to them, you can go to the reunification center at 8686 Kirby. That's the Windham Houston Hotel. HPD and HFD will be there to assist."
Earlier in the day, ABC reporter Mycah Hatfield tweeted a video of a large crowd running through the gates. She noted some were "trampled," some "detained."
Tributes pour in after 8 dead at Astroworld Festival
Fans are gripped by shock. At the same time, most expressed grief along with sympathetic messages. However, several were left confused and had their versions of what went down at the fest. Most were of the opinion that the stampede caused breathing issues among those who were compressed.
Travis Scott is yet to comment
While Scott is yet to respond to the Astroworld Festival tragedy, his pre-event tweet has been drawing immense flak. Kendall Jenner was at the event too, and has shared a string of videos from the night.
To avoid further chaos, Saturday's event stands canceled.
