Astroworld festival tragedy: Houston creates task force to review event safety

February 10, 2022:

A new task force will look into how to improve the safety at large Houston-area events in the hopes of avoiding another tragedy like last year’s deadly Astroworld music festival, officials said Wednesday.

The task force will review possible safety upgrades, look at ways of improving communication between different agencies and departments and make recommendations “to ensure consistent operational standards for future events,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

A massive crowd surge at the Astroworld music festival led to the deaths of 10 concertgoers.
( Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File)

Questions have been raised about a possible lack of coordination between officials who work for the city of Houston and surrounding Harris County, and festival promoter Live Nation over several issues before the Nov. 5 concert. Among the questions were whether there was sufficient security and medical personnel and whether there was sufficient coordinated planning for responding to emergency situations like the massive crowd surge that led to 10 deaths.

“We know that the city and county can do better,” Turner said.

ASTROWORLD TRAGEDY: EVERYTHING TO KNOW

The 10 people who died were among 50,000 who attended the festival headlined by rapper Travis Scott.

Those killed died from compression asphyxia. A medical expert said the pressure from the crowd surge was so great that it quickly squeezed all the air from the victims’ lungs, causing them to pass out within a minute or so and die because critical organs were depleted of oxygen.

Those who died ranged in age from 9 to 27 years old. Roughly 300 people were injured and treated at the scene, and 25 were taken to hospitals.

Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia said he hopes the task force will help resolve any fears people might have about the safety of Houston-area events.

General view of atmosphere during the third annual Astroworld Festival at NRG Park on November 05, 2021 in Houston, Texas.
(Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

“I want this task force to resolve concerns of parents throughout our region, that if they’re coming to an event, whether inside the county or inside the city, that they know that there has been a great deal of thought put into the safety and well-being of all attendees at these respective events,” Garcia said.

The task force is set to meet monthly, but no date was given for when its members hoped to finish their work.

When asked by reporters how much of the task force’s work would focus on figuring out what went wrong at the Astroworld festival and what coordination among the various parties wasn’t done, Turner said the group would look to the future and not back at any one event. He said the task force would not interfere with the criminal investigation of the Astroworld concert that’s being led by Houston police.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

A woman walks past a memorial to those who died at the Astroworld festival outside of NRG Park in Houston, Texas.
(Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

More than 400 lawsuits have been filed over injuries and deaths at the concert, including many against Live Nation and Scott.

Last month, the Texas Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, which is overseen by the Texas Supreme Court, agreed to consolidate the lawsuits and let them be handled by one judge as the cases proceed through the court system. The panel hasn’t yet chosen a judge.

The U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee in December announced it was investigating Live Nation’s role in the deadly concert.

Source link

tags

Abkhazia Afghanistan Africa Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curacao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guam Guatemala Guinea Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Northern Cyprus Norway Oman Pakistan Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Lucia Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Uganda UK Ukraine United Arab Emirates Uruguay USA Uzbekistan Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe