A medical examiner has confirmed that the death of 10 people at rapper Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival in November was due to accidental asphyxiation.
Ten festival attendees aged between nine and 27 were asphyxiated by a stampede, which injured another 300 people on November 5; 50,000 people attended the festival and many of the victims found themselves crushed against the weight of the crowd.
One of the 10 people killed also had cocaine, methamphetamine, and ethanol in his system according to the medical report, which said the combination of the drugs were an additional “contributory cause” of death.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said on Thursday that the medical report “re-opens a fresh wound for many families who are still trying to make sense of what happened,” while attorney James Lassiter – who is representing the family of 22-year-old victim Bharti Shahani – said the results “confirm [the] Bharti’s family’s worst fears.”
Videos of the festival show emergency services in the crowd as Scott continued performing, making it harder for authorities to reach people in need.
Scott’s partner, Kylie Jenner claimed following the tragedy that they were unaware of the situation in the audience until after the show had ended and that they would have shut down the festival had they known what was happening.
However, lawsuits have been filed against Scott and organizers of the festival, accusing them of putting profits over people and ignoring safety concerns.