Words by Mica Reid
On Friday 5th November, at least 8 people have been reported dead from being trampled on and suffocating during Travis Scott’s Astroworld concert.
Around 50,000 people attended the sold out stadium complex and before they all knew it, they soon realise there were too many people compact into one space. People have taken to social media to express their anger and fear of the events that occurred, one saying; “it took 30 seconds before everyone started pushing to the front giving no room to move or even put your hand up, you could only see the backs of people’s heads and breath the hot air around you”. People have stated they feared for their lives as they were pushed around and “drowned” in the crowd, losing their friends in the sea of mayhem.
Tik-Toker “diaboxantiago” goes live on the platform to talk about his experience of being in VIP seeing at least 10 people drop to the ground behind the fence he was in front of, looking lifeless with grey and blue complexions. He says it took a while for the paramedics to come, performing CPR on people one by one and if they did not respond, they would leave the bodies and go off to the next casualty.
Around 300 people were reported as injured from dehydration and being trampled on. People rushed over to event organisers on the other side of the barriers and extras behind the stage to beg for help on multiple occasions but received no help let alone acknowledgement, as a video surfaces showing a boy begging for help and to stop the concert saying “you don’t know what it’s like in there, people are dying” other attendees and faculty tell the boy to “get down” repeatedly and eventually dismiss him all together. People jumped over paramedic buggy’s escorting the fatalities out through the crowd.
Travis has put out a statement apologising to the families and both him and Kylie Jenner, who attended her boyfriends concert, mention they were unaware of what was happening in the crowd. Many have doubted this statement as Kylie snapped a-now-deleted video of an ambulance in the crowd during the concert. Another video has also surfaced of Travis Scott looking directly at the people fainting and also stopping the concert for a little bit to allow the lifeless people to be escorted out with the ambulance buggy.
After seeing the amount of people who had been injured, he should have stopped the show immediately and thought first about the lives and wellbeing of his fans. However he dismissed this and carried on with his performance.
Also in need of being held accountable are the event organisers, for their lack of management of Heath and Safety measures, being understaffed and allowing such an event to take place. People have said it was “hell” and “a demonic event” the way they were trapped and sealed in with big gates and barriers around them, being impossible to escape.
Families of the deceased and injured have filed for a lawsuit against the artist as an investigation takes place with the Houston PD.