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A knife attack on a high-speed train in Germany left three people severely wounded, the Bavarian Red Cross said Saturday.

One man has been arrested in connection with the morning attack at the train station in Seubersdorf, police said. Police said multiple people were wounded but were unable to provide a specific number.

The train, one of Germany's high-speed ICE trains, was travelling between the Bavarian cities of Regensburg and Nuremberg at the time of the attack.

READ MORE: Russian diplomat found dead on street outside Berlin embassy

A spokesperson for the Bavarian Red Cross, which has 110 responders on the scene, said the organisation processed three "severely injured" people. In addition, 200 to 300 people were removed from the train and were being taken care of at a nearby location.

RELATED: Man in Joker costume stabs 17 people on Tokyo train, starts fire

Local police told The Associated Press they received a call about the attack around 9am (7pm AEDT).

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said the background behind the "terrible" attack was "still unclear." He said people in Seubersdorf, a municipality 473 kilometres south of Berlin, faced no "acute danger."

"I hope that those injured and those who witnessed this will recover quickly and completely," Seehofer said.

A spokesperson for the German railway network confirmed that the station in Seubersdorf was closed and that train travel between Regensburg and Nuremberg was suspended. Long-distance train service has since been rerouted via the nearby city of Ingolstadt.

Houston Police are investigating reports that a security officer was jabbed in the neck with a needle prior to a crowd squeeze at a Houston music festival that killed eight people.

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.

The pandemonium unfolded on Friday evening at Astroworld, a sold-out, two-day event in NRG Park with an estimated 50,000 people in attendance.

READ MORE: Naked man rescued after three days stuck in theatre wall

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 someone's arm in your neck. You're trying to breathe, but you can't."

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

Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said authorities were investigating reports of suspicious activity in the crowd, including a security officer who told police that he felt a prick in his neck during the chaos and lost consciousness while being examined by first responders.

He was revived by the opioid antidote Narcan, Chief Finner said.

The dead ranged in age from 14 to 27, and 13 people were still hospitalised on Saturday, Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

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READ MORE: Naked man rescued after three days stuck in theatre wall in New York

He called the disaster "a tragedy on many different levels" and said it was too early to draw conclusions about what went wrong.

"It may well be that this tragedy is the result of unpredictable events, of circumstances coming together that couldn't possibly have been avoided," said Judge Lina Hidalgo, Harris County's top elected official.

"But until we determine that, I will ask the tough questions."

Experts who have studied deaths caused by crowd surges say they are often a result of density — too many people packed into a small space.

The crowd is often running either away from a perceived threat or toward something they want, such as a performer, before hitting a barrier.

G. Keith Still, a visiting professor of crowd science at the United Kingdom's University of Suffolk, has testified as an expert witness in court cases involving crowds.

He said he usually does not look at eyewitness reports in the early stages of analysing an incident because emotions can cloud the picture, and witnesses can see only what's immediately around them.

Based on fire codes, the venue could have held 200,000 people, but city officials limited the attendance to 50,000, Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña said.

"It was the crowd control at the point of the stage that was the issue, especially as the crowd began to surge toward the stage," Chief Peña said.

The deaths called to mind a 1979 concert by the Who where 11 people died as thousands of fans tried to get into Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum.

Other past crowd catastrophes include the deaths of 97 people in an overcrowded Hillsborough Stadium in 1989 in Sheffield, England, and numerous disasters connected with the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia.

People in the Houston crowd reported lots of pushing and shoving during the performances leading up to Scott's set.

Then when Scott took the stage, the crowd seemed to rush to the front, trying to get closer to the stage, said Nick Johnson, a high school senior from the Houston suburb of Friendswood who was at the concert.

"Everyone was passing out around you, and everyone was trying to help each other. But you just couldn't move. You couldn't do anything. You can't even pick your arms up," Mr Johnson said. "It just got worse and worse."

Mr Johnson said fans started to crush each other, and people started screaming.

Scott seemed to be aware that something was going on in the crowd, but he might not have understood the severity of the situation, Johnson 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: "Security, somebody help real quick."

In a tweet posted on Saturday, Scott said he was "absolutely devastated by what took place last night."

He pledged to work "together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need."

Amy Harris, a freelance photographer for The Associated Press, described an "aggressive" crowd atmosphere throughout the day because of the way fans were behaving — pushing and rushing the stage barricades and prohibited VIP and admission areas.

"It was definitely the most chaotic festival environment that I've been in," Ms Harris said. "I felt uneasy all day."

She got trapped behind a barricade while photographing performer Don Toliver because about 300 fans rushed the area.

They ended up behind the security barricade with her.

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She encountered a similar scene at a different stage for the main act.

She left the media pit after three songs because of the disorder, which resulted in people being pulled over the security barricade to receive medical attention.

At one point, Gerardo Abad-Garcia was pressed so tightly into the crowd that he could not move his arms off his chest.

During Toliver's performance, which came before Scott's appearance, he started getting concerned for his safety.

"I just couldn't breathe. I was being compressed," he said.

A security guard helped him and others climb a fence and get out.

He described the crowd during Scott's set as a wave that was "going forward and backward."

He said some people tried to help those who were passed out on the ground, while other concertgoers seemed to ignore them and continued watching the show.

Some people at the show said barricades erected near the stage and to separate different sections of ticket holders prevented fans from escaping.

Billy Nasser described an area created by a stage barricade as a closet that people were thrown into and the door was shut.

Joshua Robinson said the barricades created an area that "was just way too small and compact" for the number of people there.

Part of the investigation will include reviewing how the area around the stage was designed, the fire chief said.

Authorities did not disclose the causes of death, and the dead were not immediately identified.

Scott, one of music's biggest young stars, founded the Astroworld Festival in 2018.

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The 29-year-old Houston native has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards.

He has a three-year-old daughter with Kylie Jenner, who announced in September that she's pregnant with their second child.

Drake joined Scott on-stage at the concert, which was livestreamed by Apple Music.

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A 25-year-old Sydney woman has become an instant millionaire after winning Australia's vaccine lottery prize.

Joanne Zhu was today announced as the major prize winner of the Million Dollar Vax campaign, winning $1 million for receiving her COVID-19 vaccinations. 

She told Today that she plans to hold a family reunion with her new-found wealth.

"I want to fly my family out from China first class and put them up in a five star hotel for Chinese New Year if the borders are open," Ms Zhu said.

"I will buy presents for my family and invest the rest of the money so I can make more money in the future and to help people if they need help."

Ms Zhu said she was unable to take the initial call from the Million Dollar Vax campaign about her $1 million prize.

"Someone rang me the other day. I think it was on Friday, and I was at work, I couldn't pick up the phone.

"Then I called them back and she said: "Oh, you won a million dollars! You're the only one in Australia'!"

READ MORE: Australia hits 80 per cent double dose milestone

Ms Zhu was one of 2,744,974 Australians who registered for their chance to win, entering the draw on October 3. 

The campaign helped drive first-dose vaccinations from 78.5 per cent to an impressive 88.3 per cent throughout October.

Australia yesterday hit the 80 per cent double vaccination milestone for those aged over 16.

Craig Winkler, of the Million Dollar Vax Alliance, said: "All of us behind the campaign are incredibly proud of what it has achieved; it's excellent to finally announce the winner and hearing their reaction was truly priceless!"   

"The most encouraging element was the late increase in entries from states such as South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia, encouragingly receiving over 100,000 entries on the final day of the campaign."