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Investigators Sunday worked to determine how eight people died in a crush of fans at a Houston music festival, as families mourned the dead and concertgoers recounted the horror and confusion of being trapped in the crowd.

Authorities planned to use videos, witness interviews and a review of concert procedures to figure out what went wrong Friday night during a performance by聽rapper Travis Scott.聽The tragedy unfolded when the crowd rushed the stage, squeezing people so tightly they couldn't breathe.

Billy Nasser, 24, who had traveled from Indianapolis to attend the concert, said about 15 minutes into Scott鈥檚 set, things got 鈥渞eally crazy鈥� and people began crushing one another. He said he 鈥渨as picking people up and trying to drag them out.鈥�

Nasser said he found a concertgoer on the ground.

鈥淚 picked him up. People were stepping on him. People were like stomping,鈥� he said.

Over the weekend, a makeshift memorial of flowers, votive candles, condolence notes and T-shirts took shape outside at NRG Park.

Michael Suarez, 26, visited the growing memorial after the concert.

鈥滻t鈥檚 very devastating. No one wants to see or hear people dying at a festival," Suarez said. "We were here to have a good time 鈥� a great time 鈥� and it鈥檚 devastating to hear someone lost their lives.鈥�

The dead, according to friends and family members, included a 14-year-old high school student; a 16-year-old girl who loved dancing; and a 21-year-old engineering student at the University of Dayton. The youngest was 14, the oldest 27.

Houston officials did not immediately release the victims' names or the cause of death.

Thirteen people remained hospitalized Sunday. Their conditions were not disclosed. Over 300 people were treated at a field hospital at the concert.

City officials said they were in the early stages of investigating what caused the pandemonium at the sold-out Astroworld festival, an event founded by Scott. About 50,000 people were there.

Authorities said that among other things, they will look at how the area around the stage was designed.

Julio Patino, of Naperville, Illinois, who was in London on business when he got a middle-of-the-night call informing him his 21-year-old son Franco was dead, said he had a lot of questions about what happened.

鈥淭hese concerts should be controlled," Patino said. 鈥淚f they don鈥檛 know how to do that, they should have canceled the concert right then, when they noticed there was an overcrowd.鈥澛�

Steven Adelman, vice president of the industry group聽Event Safety Alliance,聽which was formed after the collapse of a stage at the Indiana State Fair in 2011 killed seven people, helped write industry guidelines widely used today.

He said investigators will examine the design of the safety barriers and whether they correctly directed crowds or contributed to the crush of spectators. He said, too, that authorities will look at whether something incited the crowd besides Scott taking the stage.

Adelman said another question is whether there was enough security there, noting there is a nationwide shortage of people willing to take low-wage, part-time security gigs.

鈥淪ecurity obviously was unable to stop people. Optically, that鈥檚 really bad-looking,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut as for what it tells us, it鈥檚 too early to say.鈥�

During a press conference on Saturday, Houston officials said that the police department had 528 police officers and that Live Nation had聽755 private security officers working at the concert.

鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter how many police officers and security were there if they鈥檙e not in the proper location and they鈥檙e not trained in crowd management,鈥� concert safety consultant . 鈥淣one of those people were in the crowd. Not enough of them were near the front barriers.鈥� He added that most often, police officers aren鈥檛 assigned to crowd management anyway.

鈥淭his was preventable," Mr. Wertheimer said. "The crowd was allowed to get too dense and was not managed properly,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he fans were the victims of an environment in which they could not control.鈥�

Contemporary Services Corp., headquartered in Los Angeles, was responsible for security staff at the festival, according to county records in Texas. Representatives for the company 鈥� which advertises online as being 鈥渞ecognized worldwide as the pioneer, expert and only employee owned company in the crowd management field鈥� 鈥� did not immediately respond to emails and phone messages seeking comment.

Houston police and fire department officials said their investigation will include reviewing video taken by concert promoter Live Nation, as well as dozens of clips from people at the show.

Officials also planned to review the event鈥檚 security plan and various permits issued to organizers to see whether they were properly followed. In addition, investigators planned to speak with Live Nation representatives, Scott and concertgoers.

Izabella Ramirez of Texas City was celebrating her 21st birthday and said that once Scott came on stage, no one could move.

鈥淓verybody was squishing in, and people were trying to move themselves to the front. You couldn鈥檛 even lift up your arms,鈥� Ramirez said.

Ramirez said a security guard pulled her over the barricade, while her date, Jason Rodriguez, lifted her up.

鈥淓veryone was yelling for different things. They were either yelling for Travis or they were yelling for help,鈥� Rodriguez 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: 鈥淪ecurity, somebody help real quick.鈥�

In 1979, 11 people were killed as thousands of fans tried to get into Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum to see a concert by The Who. Other past聽crowd catastrophes聽include the deaths of 97 people at a soccer match in Hillsborough Stadium in 1989 in Sheffield, England, and numerous disasters connected with the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia.

In a tweet posted Saturday, Scott said he was 鈥渁bsolutely devastated by what took place." He pledged to work 鈥渢ogether with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need.鈥�

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Associated Press writers Jake Bleiberg in Dallas; Randall Chase in Dover, Delaware; and Kristin M. Hall in Nashville contributed to this report.