At least one lawsuit has been filed over the fatal crowd surge at a concert by rapper Travis Scott, with more expected in the coming days.
Manuel Souza suffered “serious bodily injuries” in the tragedy at the Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas, according to a petition seen by the Reuters and Associated Press news agencies.
Image: Around 50,000 people were at the festival. Pic: Twitter @ONACASELLA /via REUTERS
Investigators are expected to examine the design of safety barriers and the use of crowd control in determining what led to the surge at the sold-out festival, which was founded by Scott.
Mr Souza is seeking at least $1m (about £741,000) in damages from defendants including Scott and show organisers Live Nation, according to a lawsuit filed in Harris County District Court, Reuters reports.
Another man named Kristian Paredes has also filed a lawsuit against Scott, Live Nation and Canadian rapper Drake, who made a guest appearance at the concert, according to US media.
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The tragedy unfolded after some of the crowd at the show are said to have pushed toward the stage at NRG Park, as a timer clicked down to the start of Grammy-nominated Scott’s show.
Among the victims were high school pupil Brianna Rodriguez, 16; medical assistant Rudy Pena, 23; student Franco Patino and his friend Jacob Jurinek, both 21; and Danish Baig, 27, who was reportedly injured as he tried to help his fiancée.
Brianna was described as “beautiful” and “vibrant” by her family on a crowdfunding page to raise money for her funeral, while Rudy was the “calmest, most playful and most sweetest with everyone”, his brother-in-law, Sergio Gonzales, told People.com.
Image: Brianna Rodriguez, 16, was among the victims
Image: Rudy Pena, 23, the youngest of five siblings, attended the show with his friends
Both Jacob and Franco were described in tributes on social media as two of the “nicest” and “kindest” people.
In a post written by Danish’s brother Basil on Facebook, he was described as “a beautiful soul whose smile would light up the room and put everyone before himself”.
Axel Acosta, 21, was also among the victims killed in the tragedy, his father, Edgar Acosta, told US media.
He was a computer science major at Western Washington University, which released a statement paying tribute: “By all accounts, Axel was a young man with a vibrant future. We are sending our condolences to his family on this very sad day.”
Image: Franco Patino, 21, a student at the University of Dayton in Ohio, was described as an ‘amazing person’
Image: Jacob Jurinek had saved up to attend the festival
Families of the victims have demanded justice as a criminal investigation is now under way, with Houston mayor Sylvester Turner calling the disaster a “tragedy on many different levels”.
Thirteen people remained in hospital on Sunday. Details of their conditions have not been released.
A security officer was also left unconscious after apparently being injected in the neck by a concert-goer. Houston city police chief Troy Finner said his department had opened a criminal investigation by homicide and narcotics detectives, following reports that somebody in the audience had been injecting people with drugs.
Houston police and fire department officials have said their investigation will include reviewing video taken by concert promoter Live Nation, as well as dozens of clips from people at the show.
Image: Scott is expecting his second child with partner Kylie Jenner. Pic: ESBP/STAR MAX/IPx
Officials also looked to review the event’s security plan and various permits issued to organisers to see whether they were properly followed. In addition, investigators planned to speak with Live Nation representatives, Scott and concert-goers.
Scott, who founded the festival, said he was “devastated” following the deaths, and was working to help the families of “the ones that was lost” as well as giving his “total support” to police.
The 29-year-old star is known for his high-energy performances in which music fans are encouraged to stage dive and crowd-surf.
He stopped multiple times during his set after spotting fans in distress near the front of the stage, and asked security to help people out of the crowd.
His partner Kylie Jenner, with whom he is expecting his second child, said after the tragedy that they had been left “broken and devastated”, and offered her “deepest condolences” to the families of those affected.
Sky News has contacted representatives for Scott and Live Nation for comment. A spokesperson for Drake declined to comment on the lawsuit reports.
It is “pretty surreal”, Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon admits, finding herself at the top of The New York Times bestsellers list.
When I meet the actress alongside her co-writer, best-selling author Harlan Coben, overnight the pair have learned that their thriller is now at number one.
He jokes: “I was texting her last night and saying you’ll now have to call yourself number one bestselling novelist, forget about Oscar winner!”
Image: Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben told Katie Spencer about their novel Gone Before Goodbye
As one of the most successful authors in the world, Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground.
Not content with running a hugely successful production company responsible for a string of hits, as well as one of the most successful book clubs in the world, she explains she felt compelled to give writing a try.
“People want you to stay in your lane… as a creative person I think it’s impossible to just choose one kind of life.
“Creativity is infinite and who I was as a creative person when I was 20 is very different from the person I am now at 49.”
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Gone Before Goodbye, a thriller about a talented surgeon who finds herself caught up in a deadly conspiracy, is the result of Witherspoon daring to put her head above the parapet.
Image: Witherspoon says she felt compelled to give writing a try
Coben admits he was “a little wary” at first.
“I don’t co-write novels but when she made the pitch and started talking about it, I was like ‘dang that’s good, we can do something with that’.”
While countless celebrities work with ghostwriters, Coben says: “I said to her from day one ‘it’s only going to be you and me in here… no third person in here, I don’t do that’. So every word you [read] comes from Reese and me.”
Image: Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground
Witherspoon explains: “He was like ‘if we’re going to do this, it’s going to have to be at a really high level because people going to expect a lot, so our bar was really high.”
“I said to her, in the beginning, novels are like a sausage,” Coben laughs. “You might like the final taste, but you don’t want to see how it was made and Reese got to see the full sausage getting made here.”
When it came to writing, Coben says they “fell into a rhythm right away”, working together in three-hour stints, “back and forth with a yellow legal pad – what about this? What about that?”
Image: Coben says they ‘fell into a rhythm right away’
Witherspoon says it “feels really deeply personal” to have their work now in print.
“Usually, as an actor, I walk into other people’s worlds and it’s already set up… but this was creating the whole world with Harlan and just from beginning to end feels very personal.”
While the story seems an obvious fit for being adapted to the screen, perhaps with a certain blonde actress in the leading role, Coben says that was never their intention.
“The biggest, biggest mistake novelists make when you write a book is to say ‘this would make a really great movie’. A book is a book, a movie is a movie, and we both focused on wanting this to be just a great reading experience.”
Given that their collaboration is already selling in big numbers, will the pair team up again to write a second?
Witherspoon says: “Let’s just see what people think of this one first.”
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Associate professor of neurology Dr Laura Stein told Sky’s US partner NBC News: ” The most well-described risk factors include a predisposition [family history of aneurysm], high blood pressure, cigarette smoking and inflammation.”
She went on to explain that most fatal ruptured aneurysms are in the brain, killing about one in three patients.
“When it’s a blood vessel that’s in the head and it bleeds, there’s a much higher risk of having a very bad problem just because the brain is enclosed in a fixed space,” Dr Stein added.
Low-risk aneurysms are monitored by doctors for growth or abnormalities, and there are a series of potential treatment options for those considered dangerous.
Elsewhere in The Kardashians clip, Kim admitted that her ex-husband Kanye West will be in her life “no matter what” because of the four kids they share together.