The Cause of Death for the 10 Astroworld Festival Victims Has Been Released
The 10 people killed at Astroworld Festival 2021 were all confirmed to be caused by compression asphyxia during massive crowd surge.
Officials announced on Thursday (December 16th) that the 10 casualties of the horrific Astroworld tragedy died by compression asphyxia. The news comes a week after Travis Scott's sit-down with Charlamagne tha God where the rapper discussed his perspective in the fatal incident.
In a AP News article, it was proclaimed that compression asphyxia occurred due to pressure from the substantial crowd that was reportedly "so great that it quickly squeezed all the air from the lungs of the 10 victims". The victims then passed out from being crushed, which depleted oxygen to their heart and brain, causing them to pass out in less than two minutes. The 10 guests were among 50,000 in attendance.
According to The Guardian, several weeks following Astroworld Festival 2021, medical examiners with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences in Houston began to make final determinations on cause and manner of death after additional test results.
The news comes just a week after Scott was dropped as a Coachella 2022 headliner. Three days following the Astroworld tragedy, members of Change.org called for the rapper to be removed from the music festival, with concerns about his "rage" influence and festival safety.
Travis Scott also faces an upwards of nearly 2,800 in legal claims, but is seeking to mend the tragedy with starting a new effort to standardize U.S. music festival safety measures. Billboard reported that the rapper is collaborating with leading music corporations including Apple, Live Nation and AEG on a comprehensive United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) agreement targeting emergency preparedness, public safety and healthcare. USCM is set to announce the initiative during their 2022 USCM Winter Meeting slated for January 19-21, 2022.
The effort is intensive in comparison to the 56-page event operations plan for Astroworld Festival 2021, which excluded information on how to manage a crowd surge.