A Congressional Committee has recently begun an investigation into the events at the Astroworld Festival in Houston that took the lives of ten people during a massive “crowd surge.”
On December 22, the House Oversight and Reform Committee sent a letter to Live Nation Entertainment’s president and CEO, Michael Rapino. The letter asked for information about the company’s role in the November 5 festival and concert by rapper Travis Scott.
Some of the information requested by the company consisted of details about security, “mass casualty incident planning,” crowd control, details about any pre-show briefings by Live Nation, and what steps the concert promoter will take to prevent injuries or death at future events.
“Recent reports raise serious concern about whether your company took adequate steps to ensure the safety of the 50,000 concertgoers who attended Astroworld Festival,” the letter read.
The committee expects Live Nation to provide documentation on the questions by January 7 and a briefing by January 12.
“We are assisting local authorities in their investigation and will of course share information with the Committee as well,” said Live Nation in a statement.
“Safety is core to live events and Live Nation engages in detailed security planning in coordination with local stakeholders including law enforcement, fire, and EMT professionals. We are heartbroken by the events at Astroworld, and our deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends of the victims.”
Around 300 people were injured at the concert venue, and 25 were taken to the hospital. Out of those 25, ten victims lost their lives.
According to medical examiners with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences in Houston, those ten victims died from compression asphyxia. They said the pressure from the crowd surge was so great that it quickly squeezed all the air from the lungs of the victims, causing them to pass out and die because critical organs were depleted of oxygen.
Nearly 400 lawsuits have been filed concerning the Astroworld Festival, including many against Travis Scott and Live Nation.
