At least 8 killed in crowd crush at Texas music festival

Washington, Nov 6 (EFE).- At least eight people have died and dozens were injured in a crowd surge at a Texas music festival late Friday, authorities said.

The incident took place at the Astroworld Festival in Houston at around 9pm local time.

“The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage, that caused some panic and it started to cause some injuries,” Sam Peña, chief of the Houston Fire Department, told reporters.

“People began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic,” he added.

He said that 17 people were transported to hospitals and that 11 were in cardiac arrest.

“We won’t know the cause of death of the eight that were confirmed until the medical examiner has completed his investigation,” he said, adding that around 50,000 people were in attendance.

Houston police chief Troy Finner said the music festival was called off after the incident, which took place during a performance by rapper Travis Scott. EFE

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