According to a report from the medical examiner, all ten dead from the Astroworld fest crowd crush died of compression asphyxia, Variety reports.
One victim had a “contributory cause” of death on account of the “combined toxic effects of cocaine, methamphetamine and ethanol.” All ten victims were declared dead at nearby hospitals, TMZ noted. The report, which was issued on Thursday by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences in Houston, comes over a month after the concert was held at Houston’s NRG Park on Nov. 5.
The investigation into what caused the deaths is still ongoing. Last month, it was revealed that seven of the ten victims who died at or following the festival were in the same small, enclosed area of the crowd. Travis Scott addressed the tragedy in an interview with Charlamagne tha God last week, and said that he feels a responsibility to “figure out what happened.”
"I think the families are owed that, I feel like the community is owed that, I feel like we’re owed that, to just know what happened here," said. "I don’t want to just speak too soon. I just want to figure out what happened. Like I said, as artists, we just leave this up to professionals to make sure that fans are having a good time and people are protected.” He also said that he “understands” why some families rejected his offer to cover funeral costs.
The medical examiner report arrives not long after it was revealed that Scott is working on a new initiative to make concerts in the United States safer. The rapper is working specifically with the United States Conference of Mayors, which “represents the interests of more than 1,400 cities across the country.” Scott and USCM plan to outline a safety report to be used at concerts and festivals, and the group added it aims to “aggressively focus on new technologies and innovations that offer ways to address these challenges."
