Crowd-crush at Asake's O2 Academy, Brixton headliner leaves two women dead

Two women have died following a suspected crowd-crush at an Asake concert on December 15.

Rebecca Ikumelo, a 33-year-old mother of two passed away in hospital on Saturday, December 17 and 23-year-old Gabrielle Hutchinson who was working security on the night, also passed away in the early hours of December 19.

A further woman, aged 21, is still in critical condition following the event.

The incident occurred ahead of a headline Asake concert at the O2 Brixton Academy.

The Nigerian Afrobeats singer and songwriter had tweeted ahead of the concert, pleading with fans not to attend his show without a valid ticket. However, according to a statement released by Metropolitan Police, officers were called to the venue at 9:35pm following reports of a “large number of people attempting to force entry to the venue.”

“Officers, London Ambulance Service (LAS) and the London Fire Brigade attended and found a number of people with injuries believed to have been caused by crushing,” the statement continued.

The singer finished his show a mere ten minutes after it had begun, according to a report by The Guardian.

Rebecca Ikumelo’s family released a statement following the incident, which read: “Rebecca was a graduate of nursing. She was an adorable mother of two children who loved working with kids. She was well respected in the family for her care, kindness and love. Her parents call her Tosin (short for Oluwatosin) meaning ‘Lord is Worthy’.”

Following the tragedy, Asake tweeted a statement, detailing his disbelief and devastation at the situation that occurred.

💔 pic.twitter.com/ne110ugRFb

— ASAKE (@asakemusik) December 17, 2022

"I'm overwhelmed with grief and could never have imagined anything like this happening," the singer said, expressing his condolences to Ikumelo's loved ones.

Policing commander for Lambeth and Southwark, Chief Superintendent Colin Wingrove, adressed the incident, saying: “I’d like to extend my sympathies to all those who have been affected. Having seen some of the really upsetting images on social media our thoughts are with them.

“An urgent investigation is currently underway led by detectives from our Specialist Crime Command and cordons remain in place as officers continue to work at the scene. This is still a fast-moving and evolving picture and we are working to establish the events that led up to the incident.

Wingrove added: “We have set up an online page for the submission of photos and videos. There were around 4,000 potential witnesses present at the time of this incident and we want to urge any members of the public with information to come forward. We need your information as we try to establish what happened as quickly as we can."

The Metropolitan Police are urging any witnesses to contact the police and/or to share any videos from the scene with @MetCC on Twitter.