Authorities in Texas opened a criminal investigation Saturday into a tragedy in which the crowd at a huge Travis Scott rap concert surged toward the stage in a crush that killed eight people and sent dozens to the hospital, IgbereTV reports.
Around 50,000 people were in the audience at Houston’s NRG Park Friday night when the crowd started pushing toward the stage as Scott was performing, triggering chaotic scenes.
“People were being pushed, people were being trampled, and then as I fought my way out of there, I saw people on the ground,” Logan Morris, a Dallas native who was at the show, told AFP.
Raul Marquez, 24, said he saw a lot of drinking and drug use in the crowd.
“And they got hot and just dancing and it all caved in and just, they couldn’t breathe, and passed out left and right,” he said.
“Some people didn’t care and just stomped on them or ignored them. It was intense,” Marquez said.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told reporters Saturday afternoon that the crush left eight people dead, from ages 14 to 27, with one person’s age unknown. The chaos also resulted in 25 people being transported to the hospital, including 13 who were still there.
Turner said that authorities are looking at video footage, talking to witnesses, concert organizers and people who were hospitalized
