The crowd at a Houston music festival suddenly surged toward the stage during a performance by rapper Travis Scott, squeezing fans so tightly together that they could not breathe or move their arms, witnesses said Saturday, hours after at least eight people died in the chaos.The pandemonium unfolded Friday evening at Astroworld, a sold-out, two-day event in NRG Park. An estimated 50,000 people were in attendance.Niaara Goods, 28, said the crowd surged as a timer clicked down to the start of the performance.맥스카지노�As soon as he jumped out on the stage, it was like an energy took over and everything went haywire. All of a sudden, your ribs are being crushed. You have someone맥스카지노�s arm in your neck. You맥스카지노�re trying to breathe, but you can맥스카지노�t,맥스카지노� Goods said.Goods said she was so desperate to get out that she bit a man on the shoulder to get him to move.The dead ranged in age from 14 to 27, and 13 people were still hospitalized, Mayor Sylvester Turner said. He called the disaster 맥스카지노�a tragedy on many different levels맥스카지노� and said it was too early to draw conclusions about what went wrong.Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña said the crowd's movement toward the stage caused panic and some injuries. Then 맥스카지노�people began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic.맥스카지노�Experts who have studied deaths caused by crowd surges say they are often a result of density 맥스카지노� too many people packed into a small space. The crowd is often running either away from a perceived threat or toward something they want, such as a performer, before hitting a barrier.G. Keith Still, a visiting professor of crowd science at the United Kingdom's University of Suffolk, has testified as an expert witness in court cases involving crowds. He said he usually does not look at eyewitness reports when in the early stages of analyzing an incident because emotions can cloud the picture, and witnesses can see only what맥스카지노�s immediately around them.The deaths called to mind a 1979 concert by The Who where 11 people died as thousands of fans tried to get into Cincinnati맥스카지노�s Riverfront Coliseum. Other past crowd catastrophes include the deaths of 97 people in an overcrowded Hillsborough Stadium in 1989 in Sheffield, England, and numerous disasters connected with the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia.People in the Houston crowd reported lots of pushing and shoving during the performances leading up to Scott맥스카지노�s set.Then when Scott took the stage, the crowd seemed to rush to the front, trying to get closer to the stage, said Nick Johnson, a high school senior from the Houston suburb of Friendswood who was at the concert with friends.맥스카지노�Everyone was passing out around you, and everyone was trying to help each other. But you just couldn맥스카지노�t move. You couldn맥스카지노�t do anything. You can맥스카지노�t even pick your arms up,맥스카지노� Johnson said. 맥스카지노�It just got worse and worse."Johnson said fans started to crush each other, and people started screaming. He said it felt like 100 degrees in the crowd.Scott seemed to be aware that something was going on in the crowd, but he might not have understood the severity of the situation, Johnson said.On video posted to social media, Scott could be seen stopping the concert at one point and asking for aid for someone in the audience: 맥스카지노�Security, somebody help real quick.맥스카지노�In a tweet posted Saturday, Scott said he was 맥스카지노�absolutely devastated by what took place last night." He pledged to work "together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need.맥스카지노�Houston Police Executive Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite, who was near the front of the crowd, said the surge 맥스카지노�happened all at once.맥스카지노�맥스카지노�Suddenly we had several people down on the ground, experiencing some type of cardiac arrest or some type of medical episode,맥스카지노� Satterwhite said. 맥스카지노�And so we immediately started doing CPR and moving people right then."Satterwhite said promoters quickly agreed to end the event "in the interest of public safety.맥스카지노�Amy Harris, a freelance photographer for The Associated Press, described an 맥스카지노�aggressive맥스카지노� crowd atmosphere throughout the day because of the way fans were behaving 맥스카지노� pushing and rushing the stage barricades and prohibited VIP and admission areas.맥스카지노�It was definitely the most chaotic festival environment that I맥스카지노�ve been in,맥스카지노� Harris said. 맥스카지노�I felt uneasy all day.맥스카지노�She got trapped behind a barricade while photographing performer Don Toliver because about 300 fans rushed the area. They ended up behind the security barricade with her.She encountered a similar scene at a different stage for the main act. She left the media pit after three songs because of the disorder, which resulted in people being pulled over the security barricade to receive medical attention.At one point, Gerardo Abad-Garcia was pressed so tightly into the crowd that he could not move his arms off his chest. During Toliver맥스카지노�s performance, which came before Scott맥스카지노�s appearance, he started getting concerned for his safety.맥스카지노�I just couldn맥스카지노�t breathe. I was being compressed,맥스카지노� he said. A security guard helped him and others climb a fence and get out.He described the crowd during Scott's set as a wave that was 맥스카지노�going forward and backward."Some people lost their shoes, and the ground was littered with clothing and trash. He said some people tried to help those who were passed out on the ground, while other concertgoers seemed to ignore them and continued watching the show.After Scott맥스카지노�s concert, Abad-Garcia saw medical personnel performing CPR on someone who appeared to be unconscious as the person was taken away on a golf cart.Authorities did not disclose the causes of death, and the dead were not immediately identified.Scott, one of music맥스카지노�s biggest young stars, founded the Astroworld Festival in 2018. The 29-year-old Houston native has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards. He has a 3-year-old daughter with Kylie Jenner, who announced in September that she맥스카지노�s pregnant with their second child.Drake joined Scott on-stage at the concert, which was livestreamed by Apple Music.___Associated Press writers Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles, Stan Choe in New York, David Sharp in Portland, Maine, and Desiree Seals in Atlanta contributed to this report.