HOUSTON (AP) 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 and killing eight people in the chaos.

The pandemonium unfolded Friday evening at Astroworld, a sold-out, two-day event in NRG Park with an estimated 50,000 people in attendance. As a timer clicked down to the start of the performance, the crowd pushed forward.

As soon as he jumped out on the stage, it was like an energy took over and everything went haywire, concertgoer Niaara Goods said. All of a sudden, your ribs are being crushed. You have someones arm in your neck. Youre trying to breathe, but you cant.

Goods said she was so desperate to get out that she bit a man on the shoulder to get him to move.