|
Breaking news tragedy at a music festival in Houston. At least eight people have died and many more injured after a crowd rushed toward the stage at the astral world Festival last night. Now, this video appears to show the moment rapper Travis Scott paused his set on stage as he saw an ambulance approaching. Houston's fire chief says the surge by festival-goers sparked chaos in the crowd of 50,000 people and completely overwhelmed medical personnel. People in the crowd attempted CPR on the injured according to the witnesses, and loved ones of those who are at the festival still may not have answers. This is Houston officials have set up a hotline to report missing people. Santa Rosa Flores is in Houston Rosa What else have you been hearing from the witnesses.
you know from the individuals that I've talked to they describe the chaos they describe how the people who were shorter in the crowd had more trouble breathing the people that were taller in the crowd were able to gasp air they describe it as as a mob and how for some of them it was their survival instincts that kinked in that they literally just wanted to get out of there they wanted air and they wanted water I talked to individuals will actually say that during Travis Scott's performance at multiple intervals, he stopped to say and point to areas of the crowd where people needed medical attention. And these these individuals described that they themselves couldn't breathe. Take a listen.
going on for over two hours. It just got worse and worse. Everyone's like just can't breathe. Just feel like feel like there's a weighted blanket. It was so hard to move your arms and like it was so hard to breathe that was there like I was pushing were in front of me just like to get a brief just just. now authority say that about 915 was when that large group, that crowd started compressing towards the stage by 9:38pm. They authority say that this became a mass casualty event. One of the officers that was on scene described multiple people on the ground needing medical care. And of course there were medics there, police was there. But authority say that both medics and the police, they were overwhelmed because of what's going on what was going on around them. By the end of the night, about 300 people were treated at a field hospital 23 were transported to hospitals. Now we've learned from Texas Children's Hospital that that includes more than one child. See moment Travis Scott stops performance amid deadly incident Eight individuals have died. According to authorities, authorities warned that that number could increase because there are multiple people who were transported to the hospital in serious condition. And so they're monitoring that and we're expecting a press conference to start here at any moment. So we're hoping to get more details. But Ryan, all of this is still under investigation. Police today. We're told we're sifting through video reviewing video trying to find clues about exactly what happened here.
Also read - Why we need a COVID19 booster shot
Okay. Rosa Flores live in Houston Rosa, thank you for that report. Let's talk more about this. Now joining us is Madeline Eskenazi. She is an ICU nurse who attended last night's concert. Madeline, you were in that crowd of about 50,000 people. See moment Travis Scott stops performance amid deadly incident And you even ended up passing out because people were pushing up against you so much that you couldn't breathe. First, just give us an idea of how you're feeling right now. And describe that experience before you passed out.
I was very anxious, I could feel you know myself. losing the ability to breathe. It was really hard with the number of people around me. I remember feeling it right before I passed out. I tried to turn my head to tell my boyfriend. I couldn't turn my head but I tried to tell him to. See moment Travis Scott stops performance amid deadly incident I really was gonna have him. Tell my son that I loved him because I honestly did not think I was gonna make it out of there. I'm not trying to be dramatic. I straight-up thought I was gonna die.
Well, I don't think that's being dramatic because there were people that lost their life that night, as I'm sure you know, you are an ICU nurse. You deal with tragedy and probably emergency situations like this on a regular basis. Travis Scott When you regained consciousness, what did you do next and what was happening around you.
I woke up and I remember I woke up in an unfamiliar area. I think I was putting the VIP section behind general admission. Travis Scott I woke up with a water bottle in my lap and I looked around and I watched they were dropping people off going back to get more people out of the crowd. I noticed one younger guy looked real bad eyes rolled back in his head and I stopped the security guy I was about to put him down. Travis Scott I said does have you checked a pulse? I said no. I don't know. How can you help me? I said yeah, I'm an ICU nurse. When we take a look really quick. did not feel a post I said hey, don't put him down. You need to go take him to a medical tent. I said get him out If you're another security guard, he overheard me say I was an ICU nurse and he said, Hey, can you come help us?
So for the volume of people that were there, and your your expertise as someone who works in the medical field, do you feel that there were enough medical resources available?
Not even a little bit when I followed the security guard that said, Can you come help me after he heard I was a nurse. I followed him and I mean, the situation I saw was absolutely traumatic. I mean, as someone who watches people, you know, I deal with CPR on a weekly basis. Like this was absolutely insane. I walk up and there's three people in for maybe four or five medical staff doing compressions doing CPR on people and I was my mind was blown. See moment Travis Scott stops performance amid deadly incident I said, When was the last Polshek I immediately jumped in and tried to help. For the situation that we had going on, with more people getting pulled over that were unresponsive, unconscious, we had one AED, which is the pads that go on your chest that shock the heart back into a normal rhythm. And there was only one, there was one bag, that mask you put over the face, and you squeeze there and, you know, graves for them. There was one of those. There was one stretcher. And we had we had when I walked up with there were three people, probably four or five by the end of it and cardiac arrest in front of me. I think there's a lot of us that obviously weren't there.
I think there's a lot of us that obviously weren't there that night wondering how something like this even happens. You've been to events like this before. Do you have any idea what led to this chaos? Why did the crowd begin to surge? What started all of this?
See moment Travis Scott
People just rushing the stage to see Travis? I've been to the past two asteroid festivals. I've been to rap concerts. I've been Chuck Scott concerts. You know, happens people rush the stage. No big deal. I mean, it's uncomfortable. Yeah, some people do get hurt. But this was way overcrowded. I've never seen anything like it. I've never felt like I was going to die. I mean, it was absurd. And there were so little resources. See moment Travis Scott stops performance amid deadly incident I mean, the medics that were trying to help didn't look like a lot of them had been properly trained. That's not to take away from what they were doing. They were still trying their best. They weren't given the proper resources. Some of them haven't been given the proper training.
do think it was. So it was a combination of something that would normally happen at a concert people trying to get closer to the stage. They're excited to see one of their favourite artists, and then people panicking because they just weren't familiar with a situation like that. I think it was really mostly overcrowding. I know that there's some rumors going around from TMZ that there was someone running around injecting people with drugs. I really don't know how big of a part drugs played into this. I was completely sober and I very easily could have died if my boyfriend would not have gotten me out of the crowd. And my unconscious body crowd surfed my unconscious body out of the crowd, I would have died. I feel like I would have died.