Emergency plans for the Astroworld music festival did not include protocols for dangerous crowd surges like the one that unfolded during a rush to see headliner Travis Scott, which left eight people dead and injured hundreds of others, including a 9-year-old boy whose family said was in a coma.
The concert area in Houston where a crush of fans had pressed forward during the rapper's Friday night performance remains largely in place as authorities continue a criminal investigation. More than 20 lawsuits have already been filed, accusing organizers of failing to take simple crowd-control steps or staff properly.
Bernon Blount said his grandson, Ezra, was in a medically induced coma on Tuesday at a Houston hospital and that the boy's heart, lungs and brain were injured in the melee. "In any situation where large groups of people are gathering, there is the potential for a civil disturbance/riot that can present a grave risk to the safety and security of employees and guests," the plan said. "The key in properly dealing with this type of scenario is proper management of the crowd from the minute the doors open.
Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, said firefighters had asked festival organizers for a radio so they could be in direct contact with each other. Lancton said firefighters were given a list of cellphone numbers to call during an emergency. Festival organizers had contracted with New York-based ParaDocs to handle all medical services at the festival. A 22-page plan the company submitted to local officials ahead of the festival said it estimated 70,000 attendees -- more than the actual number of concertgoers -- and planned for a daily staff of more than 80 emergency medics, doctors, registered nurses and supervisors.
Scott, who founded the Astroworld festival, said he would cover funeral costs for the victims. The dead ranged in age from 14 to 27 and came from Texas, Illinois and Washington state, according to Harris County authorities. They included high schoolers, an aspiring Border Patrol agent and a computer science student.
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