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Astroworld deaths the result of “compression asphyxia”, medical examiner confirms
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 17 December 2021
The deaths of ten people at last month’s Astroworld festival in Houston, Texas were accidental, the Harris County Medical Examiner ruled yesterday. Those ten deaths were the result of “compression asphyxia”, caused by the crowd surge that occurred during Travis Scott’s headline set at the festival he founded.
The ten victims were aged between nine and 27. Only one of the deaths was found to have other contributing factors, cited by officials as the “combined toxic effects of cocaine, methamphetamine and ethanol”.
In addition to the ten who died, hundreds more were injured during the crowd surge. A criminal investigation continues into whether decision making by event organisers – including promoters Live Nation and its Scoremore subsidiary – contributed to the tragedy.
Meanwhile, hundreds of festival-goers have now sued Scott, Live Nation and others, with billions of dollars in damages being sought.
In addition to the specific legalities around Astroworld 2021, some are also calling for new regulations for large-scale events across America to ensure that a tragedy of this kind can never happen again.
And, according to Billboard, Scott himself has got involved in one initiative that is seeking to bring together the music industry, government, healthcare providers and the event management sector to consider new standards and safety measures for festivals that could be applied US-wide.
