International media has reported that a ninth person has died following last Friday’s tragic stampede at rapper, Travis Scott’s ‘Astroworld’ music festival in Houston, Texas. The ninth victim is a 22-year-old college student. The youngest to have succumbed to injuries so far is 14. A nine year old boy who was also seriously injured, is currently in a medically induced coma at hospital. Eighty civil lawsuits had been filed, up to Thursday, in connection with the incident. The attorney representing the entertainer, on Friday said, “There obviously was a systematic breakdown that we really need to get to the bottom of before we start pointing fingers at anyone.”

Caribbean event promotional outfit, Caesars Army is just one of many global promotional teams that often facilitate mass gatherings for the entertainment of all, and while its founder, Jules Sobian admits that none of his events exceed 10,000 patrons, he believes there are serious lessons to be learnt from this tragedy.

“This seemed like a predictable but preventable tragedy,” said Sobion, in an exclusive chat with EBUZZTT on Thursday. He lamented the devastation, but said Travis Scott has a history of inciting crowds during his performances. “That in itself seems like a red flag for me, as I would not prescribe to anybody who is of total focus or attention, inciting my crowd in dangerous activities. It will only auger badly or negatively on the event organiser itself,” he explained. “I would remember when ‘Pick up Something,’ (Grenada’s Mr. Killa)was a big song. There were certain responsible event production managers that would ensure that if any song would incite rowdiness, or cause mayhem, the song would not be played, because we are responsible for the safety and security of the event,” he said. Beyond that however, Sobion pinpointed communication among key security and safety personnel as a major area of importance in hosting any event. “It’s the collaboration and cohesion of medical, fire, police, health and safety requirements; Based on this mass casualty event, it seemed that for a 50,000 crowd, they were not able to manage the complexities of such a crowd. In essence it seemed like from before, during and after the show, there were a number of failures.”

Sobion’s team produces events like A.M Bush, IN.De.Paint.Dance, Mai Tai, Bacchanal Blocko and Bacchanal Road to name a few. He believes that protocols established with communication at the centre of it all, could essentially safeguard all involved.“From a Trinidad and Tobago context and an event promoter’s context globally, it’s a matter of the cohesion and the buy- in, and the support from a cohesive team. It also comes down to communication among the personnel who are part and parcel of the event. There must be a hub- an area of communication where all officials will be in one station, or one workplace, to receive dilemmas in one hub. I don’t think Astroworld had that,” he noted.

Jules said while in the Caribbean, most events are usually on a much smaller scale, events of the Astroworld magnitude, require a high level of production. “I know for a fact that we, as simple Caribbean people – we tend to do the right thing. Police and Fire officials play an intrinsic role in the safety of any event and that is the main thing. Communication among all involved- a cohesive collaboration of entities, is responsible for a safe event production, and that just seemed like it was not the case last weekend,” he said.

Apart from the establishment of the communications hub, which Sobion said he certainly established for Bacchanal Road, he said it is imperative that the units attached to these crucial entities, are put into place in the most strategic way. “The communications hub is necessary but you also have to strategically put in place the units of these entities, within the event so that they can actually execute in the scenario of incidents to make sure that it’s dealt with immediately,” he highlighted, adding, “Communications coming centrally is important and having all persons on alert where you can actually communicate with the entities within the event and know how to deal with the incidents – whether to have the show stopped etcetera- that’s key.” Sobion said agents under the purview of the critical safety departments are tasked with communicating any emergencies immediately so that incidents do not carry on and end up causing mass casualties.

Last Friday in Houston, concert goers said the crowd surge that essentially led to nine deaths, began when Travis Scott took the stage. According to President of the Houston Firefighters Association, Patrick Lancton, Firefighters who were stationed outside the venue were not in radio communication with the emergency medical providers hired by the concert organisers as the situation unfolded.