Deceased Named In SXSW Car Crash Horror [UPDATED]

No Australians are believed to be injured in a terrifying accident that has left at least two dead at music festival and conference SXSW.

A car, allegedly driven by an intoxicated individual Rashad Owens who was eluding police, crashed into a moped and then a crowd of people outside the Mohawks venue in Austin, Texas.

A second media briefing has now been held, with authorities confirming that one of the deceased was a local woman riding a moped, the other – a tourist from the Netherlands – was a cyclist. Dutch booking and promotional agency MassiveMusic have named one of the victims as their colleague, 35-year-old Steven Craenmehr.

UPDATE: The second victim, a local woman, has been reportedly identified by Statesman as 27-year-old Jamie Ranae West. Via Austin Chronicle.

In a statement they confirm, “It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden passing of our close friend and colleague Steven Craenmehr, 35, on March 13th, 2014 at SXSW.

“During the 8 years that Steven worked for MassiveMusic, we got to know him as an unstoppable force, full of life, love and laughter. This is an irreplaceable loss for the MassiveMusic family and we are grateful for the years we spent with him. Our thoughts are with Steven's family and friends.”

The Tragedy As It Happened Last Night

List of those injured here

Two people are still critical, a figure that has been rounded down from five initially reported by police in the early hours of the morning. The hospital said they are still concerned for the lives of those two victims.

A list of those injured has been posted by Austin Police here. Their ages range from 17 to 39 with a number of 19 and 20-year-olds involved. Outside of the two critical individuals, three are hospitalisted with non-life threatening injuries and 15 have been treated and released.

Three females and one male have not yet been identified.

Owens has been arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder and multiple charges of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle.

After crashing into the moped, bicycle and crowd, Owens attempted to flee the scene on foot and was tased by police.

SXSW have also issued a statement on the matter, saying that the festival staff are “stunned and deeply moved by the events of last night”.

“Dozens of us were on the scene when the incident occurred and we worked closely with APD [Austin Police Department] to create a perimeter around the area, turning back all the visitors spilling out of the clubs who headed north on Red River Street.”

At the second media briefing Police urged SXSW to continue, which the festival's statement said they would do. The overall feeling on the ground in Austin is that any sort of cancellation would cause too much mayhem.

“To avoid confusion we plan to carry on with our scheduled daytime events at the Austin Convention Center in order to serve our tens of thousands of participants during this tragic time,” their statement reads.

“All of the SXSW staff and volunteers reported for their regular duties this morning and will continue working today on the event.”

They added, “Despite all of our preparations for dealing with a major incident during SXSW, nothing could really prepare us for how this feels. As much as we would like to just go home and spend time absorbing the shock of this horrific event, we feel our best use is to continue to operate today. Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and with the families of the fatalities.”

While the majority of the festival will go ahead as planned Mohawk and Cheer Up Charlie are assessing their schedule for the rest of the event. Many of the staff at Mohawk, in particular, were first responders to the tragedy.

A fund has been set up for those wishing to donate to those affected in the crash. Donate to SXSW Cares here.