Astroworld’s promoters are developing a fund to cover the medical bills of the festival’s attendees.
The Travis Scott-helmed event in Houston, Texas, was the site of a horrific crowd surge on Friday night (November 5) that left eight people killed and hundreds injured.
Live Nation and ScoreMore have announced plans to develop a health fund earmarked to cover the festival’s attendees’ medical fees and provide mental health counselling resources. The news was confirmed in an official statement posted on both organisations’ social media accounts.
“And most importantly we are working on ways to support attendees, the families of victims, and staff, from providing mental health counselling to setting up a health fund to help with costs for medical expenses,” it read at one point.
We wanted to provide an update on the steps that Live Nation, Scoremore and the Astroworld Fest team have been taking. https://t.co/BsAHPSQXhK
— Live Nation (@LiveNation) November 8, 2021
Further details of how much money will be in the fund or whether the companies will cover medical expenses in full are yet to be confirmed.
The rest of the statement also shared that ScoreMore, Live Nation and Astroworld Fest had been “working to provide local authorities with everything they need” for the investigation “and get everyone the answers they are looking for”.
“Our staff has met with local authorities to provide information, and we have also provided them with all footage from our CCTV cameras,” it continued. “Load out of the site and equipment is currently paused to give investigators the time they requested to walk and document the grounds. Full refunds are being offered for all those who purchased tickets.”
Earlier today, Scott announced that he would also provide therapy sessions for those who had been at the festival, as well as covering the funeral costs of the victims killed in the crowd crush.
“These are the first of many steps Travis plans on taking as a part of his personal vow to assist those affected throughout their grieving and recovery process,” a press release said. Further relief efforts are to be announced by the rapper in the coming days and weeks.
Lawsuits have already begun to be filed against Scott and Live Nation, with one accusing the parties and others of “negligence and gross negligence”. Another claims the incident was a result of “a motivation for profit at the expense of concertgoers’ health and safety”.
On Saturday, Houston officials held a press conference where they gave the public an update on the status of the investigation and more details of those killed at Astroworld. They confirmed that the youngest victim was 14, while the oldest was 27.