(CCTV Finance "First Time", "Tianxia Finance") On the 5th local time, a stampede occurred in a music festival in Houston, Texas, usa, and so far the incident has caused at least 8 deaths and more than 300 injuries.
A stampede at a music festival in Houston, USA, has killed eight people
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The local fire department said at a press conference that at about 9:15 p.m. on the 5th, about 50,000 people participating in the "Astronomical World" music festival began to squeeze the stage in front, causing chaos. The incident worsened after 9:30, and after the casualties, it again caused more serious panic in the crowd. More than 300 people have been treated outdoors, and at least 17 have been taken to local hospitals for treatment. This includes children up to 10 years old. Festival organizers paused the event after discovering a large number of injuries.
Sam Peña, Fire Commissioner of Houston, USA: At about 9:15 a.m., the crowd began to squeeze toward the front of the stage, causing casualties and panic. Then someone fell and lost consciousness, causing more serious confusion.
In addition, in the afternoon of the same day, when the music festival activities began, a large number of people crowded into the event site with each other, which caused chaos for a while. Local police said the incident, which caused a large number of casualties at night, had nothing to do with the crowding in the afternoon. It is understood that the tickets for this music festival have been snapped up in May this year, and at present, the next day of the music festival has been cancelled.
Witnesses tell the story of the moment of horror: someone was screaming, and I couldn't catch my breath
Some festival audiences later recalled this terrifying moment in interviews, saying that the environment was extremely noisy, and the audience was so large and crowded that people could not breathe.
Larry Sutter White, executive assistant sergeant of the Houston Police Department who was also at the scene at the time of the incident, described that the crowd suddenly rushed forward, and several people suddenly fell to the ground, and their heartbeat stopped.
Sam Peña, fire chief of Houston, said at a press conference held in the early morning of the 6th that at about 21:00 local time on the 5th, the crowd that was watching the performance of rapper Travis Scott began to push in the direction of the stage, causing panic. Scott notices that something is wrong, stops the show, and calls on security guards to rescue the audience.
The mayor of Houston said the victims of the stampede were all young people, aged between 14 and 27. Texas Gov. Abbott said the stampede was a "tragedy." The festival organizers and Scott are currently cooperating with the police to investigate the cause of the incident.
According to US media reports, the music festival was organized in chaos, and earlier in the day, there was a crowded and chaotic scene at the entrance, many people rushed into the music festival site from the entrance, and the security inspection facilities were also destroyed. According to the report, many people who entered the house that day did not have tickets. According to the Associated Press, this is the most deadly and injured performance safety accident in the United States since 2003. In February 2003, a fire broke out at a nightclub in Rhode Island, USA, during a live performance, killing about 100 people and injuring nearly 200 others.
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(Edited by Gong Xinyu)