[imagesource: Rick Kern / Getty Images]

Travis Scott’s Astroworld music festival that took place in Houston, Texas on Friday has been called a “concert in hell”.

The gathering of excited fans caused a mass crushing situation as everyone pushed forward trying to get to the front of the stage to see Scott perform.

The aftermath of the massive crowd surge revealed that eight people had tragically died, while 11 people had to receive CPR on the scene.

Around 300 people were also injured in the tragedy, with nearly two dozen being rushed to hospitals.

Here’s Houston’s fire chief Samuel Peña explaining the situation via Insider:

“The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage, and that caused some panic, and it started causing some injuries,” Houston fire chief Samuel Peña told reporters early Saturday morning.

“People began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic.”

He added that it triggered a “mass casualty” event, with 17 people taken to hospitals and 11 cardiac arrests.

The music festival seemed to have been in the hands of chaos from the very start, with viral videos showing the crowds pushing over security fences to enter the festival earlier in the day:

They smoked VIP #Astroworld pic.twitter.com/AYvjKT8VBY

— BMoore (@BrennonMoore34) November 5, 2021

The chaos really erupted when Scott arrived on stage, with some attendees dancing on ambulance vehicles and others jumping all over other security vehicles that were trying to get to the unconscious individuals:

this getting outta hand‍♂️ that’s an ambulance #ASTROWORLDFest #AstroWorld #ASTROFEST pic.twitter.com/jcCrg8a3CO

— The Bad Guy (@helowkeyspittin) November 6, 2021

People were really jumping on the cars of security personnel when they were trying to get to unconscious people in the crowd. This shit is disgusting. Look at these weirdos. #ASTROWORLDFest pic.twitter.com/Ctc0cvgBUV

— Squirt Reynolds (@SquirtReynoIds) November 6, 2021

According to Metro, there’s even a bizarre report of one security officer being injected with an opioid drug while he was attempting to restrain someone:

Houston Police Chief Troy Finner today confirmed that a security guard passed out after appearing to be injected in the neck with a needle.

A concert-goer is believed to have attacked the guard, who had to be revived using the drug Narcan, commonly used for overdoses on opioids, including heroin.

Finner said that the police were aware of this “narrative” that a concert-goer was injecting unsuspecting members of the audience with drugs:

Houston Police Chief Troy Finner confirms that during the Astroworld Festival in Houston a member of security passed out after appearing to be injected in the neck by a concert-goer.

He added that the security officer was revived with Narcan.

Latest: https://t.co/eqLUaK8YDF pic.twitter.com/dm2ZIqo2bS

— Sky News (@SkyNews) November 6, 2021

One attendee posted a video describing the night as “a concert in hell,” mentioning how seeing people lying on the ground (some possibly dead) was “demonic” and “traumatic”:

this is crazy#AstroWorld #ASTROWORLDFest pic.twitter.com/l3rXokFbys

— ༒♱ (@officialshaane) November 6, 2021

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner called the event a tragedy, confirming that an estimated 50 000 people attended the concert, per WFAA.

Scott is reported to have stopped his 75-minute set a few times, trying to figure out what was happening and asking for the authorities to help anyone in harm.

At one point, a group of fans at the back started shouting, “Stop the show! Stop the show!” as Scott sang on stage.

Here’s more on the victims:

A 16-year old was killed in the incident, the city’s mayor Sylvester Turner revealed in a news conference, with a 14-year-old also believed to be among the dead.

The other victims included two 21-year-olds, two 23-year-olds and a 27-year-old, with the age of one other victim unknown.

Scott released an emotional statement on Instagram, sharing his devastation and offering his help to the families of the victims, according to Sky News.

In the video, he says he could never have imagined the severity of this situation:

Many have called the security set-up into question, with an investigation opened up to try and figure out what exactly caused the mass surge.

Meanwhile, the rest of the two-day Astroworld festival was cancelled.

[sources:insider&wfaa&skynews&metro]