A House oversight committee said it would begin an inquiry into the deaths of 10 people who were trapped in surging crowds in November at a concert in Houston.
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform said on Wednesday that it would investigate the deaths of 10 people who were caught in a surging, stampeding crowd at a concert in November in Houston. The lawmakers on the bipartisan panel said that they had sent a letter about the investigation to Live Nation Entertainment Inc., which organized the concert — the Astroworld Festival at NRG Park — where 50,000 people gathered on Nov.5 to see a hometown rapper, Travis Scott, and other artists perform. The letter informed Michael Rapino, the president and chief executive of Live Nation Entertainment Inc., that the company had until Jan.7 to provide details about the security measures it had planned for the festival, where a large, excited crowd surged toward the front of a stage during a performance by Mr. Scott. “Recent reports raise serious concerns about whether your company took adequate steps to ensure the safety of the 50,000 concertgoers who attended Astroworld Festival,” the committee members wrote. “We are deeply saddened by the deaths that occurred at Astroworld Festival and are committed to investigating what went wrong to inform possible reforms that could prevent future tragedies.
