WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th November, 2021) The eight people who died at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival include two teenagers under the age of 18, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said.
"Based on our latest information, 8 people are reported dead from the event last night. In terms of their ages, one is 14, one is 16, two are 21 years of age, two are 23, one is 27 and one remains unknown at this time," Turner told reporters at the Wyndham Houston Hotel on Saturday.
The mayor added that after the tragic event on Friday, a total of 25 people were taken to the hospital, 13 of them still remain hospitalized, including five people under the age of 18. No one is reported missing.
"This incident is being thoroughly investigated and reviewed," Turner emphasized, adding that the authorities are working on getting a full picture of "what took place, what went wrong, where were the missteps."
Chief of Police Troy Finner told reporters at the same press conference on Saturday that during the Astroworld Festival a member of security lost consciousness after feeling a prick in his neck.
"One of the narratives was that some individual was injecting other people with drugs. We do have a report of a security officer, according to the medical staff ... that he was reaching over to restrain or grab a citizen and he felt a prick in his neck," Finner said.
According to the chief of police, the security officer was revived with Narcan and medical staff noticed a mark on his neck that could have been from an injection.
"That is one part of it. The other thing that's very important: there were some individuals that were trampled, and we want to be respectful of that," Finner said, adding that police need time for a "proper investigation."
Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena said on Friday that there were about 50,000 people in attendance at the Astroworld Festival, where crowd rush started shortly after 9 p.m. Pena said at least eight deaths were confirmed.
During his Friday performance, rapper Travis Scott stopped his set several times to ask security to help the fans get out of the crowd, according to local media reports.
