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Astroworld: Five more festival-goers still fighting for their lives in ICU after Travis Scott concert

Eight people have so far died following the crowd surge at the music festival in Houston on Friday night

Rachel Sharp
Monday 08 November 2021 22:32 GMT
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Travis Scott Astroworld Tragedy: Everything We Know
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Five festival-goers are still fighting for their lives in ICU and a sixth remains in hospital three days on from the deadly crush at Travis Scott’s Astroworld which left eight music fans dead.

Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña told CNN on Monday that six victims are still hospitalised, fuelling concerns that the death toll from Friday night’s tragedy may rise further.

The conditions, ages and identities of the people hospitalised were not revealed.

However, officials previously confirmed that 11 people went into cardiac arrest at the music festival at NRG Park in Houston, Texas.

Eight people, aged between 14 and 27, died when the crowd of around 50,000 Scott fans surged during his performance, causing people to be crushed and trampled in the masses.

Around 300 more were injured in the incident which is now the focus of at least two criminal investigations as well as a growing number of lawsuits against Scott and promoter Live Nation.

Scott, who was both the headline performer on stage at the time of the tragedy and the festival organiser, announced on Monday that he will pay for the funerals of the people who died.

He also pledged to provide free mental health services for anyone affected by the tragedy.

“Travis remains in active conversations with the city of Houston, law enforcement and local first responders to respectfully and appropriately connect with the individuals and families of those involved,” the statement said.

“These are the first of many steps Travis plans on taking as a part of his personal vow to assist those affected throughout their grieving and recovery process.”

The family of one of the victims held a press conference on Monday afternoon where they revealed they were first told that their son was not on the list of people killed in the chaos.

Axel Acosta was identified by his father over the weekend as the eighth victim of the tragedy (KPRC 2 Click2Houston / Youtube )

Axel Acosta, a 21-year-old student who had traveled from Washington state on his own to attend the festival, was named by his family on Sunday as the eighth victim after authorities asked for help in identifying him.

His father Edgar Acosta said he was reassured his son wasn’t among those killed or injured when he contacted the police after news broke of the tragedy.

“And they told me, ‘Mr Acosta, you son is not on the list. So you don’t have to worry about anything’. He’s not on the list of the dead people or the injured people,’” he said.

He said he was also told that all the victims had been identified so not to worry about his son.

Mr Acosta later learned his son had died.

The attorney for the family, who are among a growing number to sue Scott, said at the press conference that the 21-year-old had the “life squeezed out of” him and was “trampled on like a piece of trash” at the festival.

Travis Scott performing at Astroworld on Friday where eight people were killed and others are still fighting for their lives in hospital (Amy Harris/Invision/AP)

The youngest victim so far is 14-year-old John Hilgert who was a high school freshman and promising baseball player.

The oldest was 27-year-old Danish Baig, whose family said he died saving his fiancée’s life in the crowd.

Family members of victims and survivors are demanding answers over what led to the deadly crush and why it took the time it did to stop the show and get medical attention to those in need.

Harrowing footage has surfaced of desperate festival-goers chanting “stop the show” while two young people even clambered on a camera platform to try to bring attention to what was happening.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Scott continued to perform for almost 40 minutes after a “mass casualty incident” was first declared by officials at the festival.

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