Authorities in Houston investigating deadly crowd surge at Astroworld music festival
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
This past Friday in Houston, nearly 50,000 people packed into NRG stadium to attend rapper Travis Scott's sold-out Astroworld music festival.
The event turned deadly with a sudden crowd surge leaving eight people dead and hundreds reportedly injured.
Mizzou students Kyle Gehner and Issac Hayes attended the festival together and describe their experience as manic and insanity.
As Travis Scott took the stage, the crowd began to push forward towards Scott, causing fans to be crushed, trampled on and causing some shortness of breath.
"At 9:15 p.m the crowd started the surge left to right, up and back pretty much shoulder to shoulder you couldn't move," Hayes said.
Hayes and Gehner say that it was impossible to get out of the crowd.
"At one point I was able to lift my legs in the air and not fall on the ground because of how squished I was."
It was both Kyle and Issac's first music festival. They attended the festival with three other friends who they eventually lost inside the festival. They had a hard time finding each other because there was no cell service.
Many are questioning the amount of security and medical personnel on-site.
"Not only a lack of security but a lack of seriousness when it came to it," Gehner said.
Both students say they won't be going to a festival anytime soon and if they ever consider going to another Travis Scott festival the venue would have to be bigger.
In a tweet, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner says he met with Scott and security before the event to address his safety concerns for concertgoers.
Many are criticizing Scott for continuing the show while people were asking for help and dying.
Scott released a statement Saturday saying, "I'm absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival."
Live Nation Entertainment promoted and organized the event. The entertainment company, along with Travis Scott has had multiple lawsuits filed against them in relation to the music festival.
Scott announced Monday that he will cover the funeral cost for the eight victims, offer full refunds for all Astroworld attendees and provide therapy through a partnership with BetterHelp, an online chat, video or by phone counseling company to provide help for those who are in need.
