A young boy is reportedly fighting for his life in a Texas hospital after sustaining severe injuries stemming from the mass casualty event at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival at NRG Park over the weekend.
Reporter Stefania Okolie of Houston's ABC 13 shared via Twitter on Monday evening (Nov. 8) that a 9-year-old boy named Ezra Blount has experienced organ damage, brain swelling and is in a coma after being trampled at the chaotic event.
Blount was sitting atop his father's shoulders while at the festival as his dad tried to protect him from the massive crowd surge, which caused many injuries, resulted in hospitalizations and eight fatalities. Ezra's dad apparently passed out from pressure amid the surge to which the boy fell to the ground and was trampled in the crowd.
Okolie tweeted: "We have learned a 9 YO boy is fighting for his life at Texas Children’s Hospital after his family says he was trampled at #AstroWorld -child was on his dads shoulders during the crowd surge, his dad passed out from pressure, his son fell and concert goers trampled him."
"The child’s family tells me all of his organs are damaged, and he has severe swelling in his brain," she continued. "They praying for a full recovery, which would be a miracle. The 9 YO boy is in coma right now & brain swelling has gotten progressively worse today after he was trampled at #Astroworld .family does not want his name shared right now, but please lift this child in prayer. He didn’t deserve this. We hear from Grandfather at 5 @abc13houston."
The news reporter added this tweet along with two photos of the Blount: "Please lift this sweet boy in prayer. 9YO Ezra Blount was on his dads shoulders at #AstroWorld as he tried to protect him from crowd surge. His dad was overcome by pressure, Ezra fell and was trampled. His family says all organs are damaged, brain swelling- praying for a miracle."
Travis Scott's annual Astroworld Festival, which had an attendance of 50,000 people, took a tragic turn Friday night (Nov. 5) at around 9:15 p.m. when hundreds of people began compressing towards the stage. Eight deaths were confirmed by Fire Chief Samuel Peña, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Police Chief Troy Finner during a press conference last Saturday morning (Nov. 6).
The eight deceased victims range in age from 14 to 27 years old, all of whom have been identified by their families as of this evening, according to a tweet shared by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo.
Twenty-five hospitalizations were also reported.
Earlier today, Travis Scott announced that he will be covering the funeral costs of those whose lives were lost at his festival. He has also joined forces with BetterHelp to provide no-cost one-on-one online therapy. La Flame is working closely with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), MHA National (Mental Health America) and MHA of Greater Houston (Mental Health America) as well to help direct individuals seeking proper mental health services following the devastating event.
Travis, who has expressed his grief and compassion for those impacted by the harrowing incidents that took place at Astroworld, released a statement over the weekend, which read, "I am absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival. Houston PD has my total support as they continue to look into the tragic loss of life. I am committed to working together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need. Thank you to Houston PD, Fire Department and NRG Park for the immediate response and support. Love You All."
Additionally, La Flame, who has been hit with lawsuits alongside Drake, Live Nation and Scoremore in connection to injuries sustained at the concert, will be issuing refunds to all attendees of Astroworld Festival and has announced the cancelation his performance at Day N' Vegas this Saturday (Nov. 13).
XXL has reached out to a rep for Travis Scott, Astroworld and Live Nation for a comment on this matter.