A medical examiner has determined the cause of death for the 10 people who died at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival. Documents from the Harris County medical examiner revealed Thursday that all 10 of the fatalities were caused due to “compression asphyxia,” with Mirza Danish Baig, 27, having a listed contributing factor of “combined toxic effects of cocaine, methamphetamine and ethanol.”
The other victims of the fatal crowd surge at the concert were Rodolfo Angel Pena, 23, Madison Alexis Dubiski, 23, Franco Cesar Patino, 21, Jacob E. Jurine, 20, John W. Hilgert, 14, Axel Beltsasar Acosta Avila, 21, Brianna Rodriguez, 16, Bharti Shahani, 22, and Ezra Blount, 9.
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Compression asphyxia happens when “respiration is prevented by external pressure on the body. It is usually due to external force compressing the trunk due to heavy weight over chest/abdomen and is associated with internal injuries,” according to the National Library of Medicine.
Police previously described the Astroworld tragedy, which occurred at NRG Park in Houston, Texas, a mass casualty incident, saying that as the crowd at Scott’s show “began to compress towards the front of the stage,” it caused panic and injuries. “People began to fall out, become unconscious,” authorities said during a news conference, “and it created additional panic.”
Last week, Scott, who is facing several lawsuits from the victims’ families and other injured attendees, spoke out for the first time since the tragedy, claiming he was unaware of what was happening in the crowd. “It wasn’t until minutes before the press conference that I figured out exactly what happened,” Scott told Charlamagne tha God in an interview. “Even after the show, you’re just kind of hearing things, but I didn’t know the exact details until minutes before the press conference. And even at that moment you’re like, ‘Wait, what?’”
The rapper denied hearing any indication from the crowd that people were being hurt, saying, “Anytime you can hear something like that, you want to stop the show. You want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need. Anytime I could see anything like that, I did. I stopped it a couple times to just make sure everybody was OK. And I really just go off the fans’ energy as a collective call and response. I just didn’t hear that.”
