Houston: A 22-year-old Indian-origin student has succumbed to her injuries sustained during the deadly crowd surge at rapper Travis Scott’s ‘Astroworld Festival’, her family informed Thursday. The student’s death took the toll to nine in the tragedy.
Bharati Shahani was about to graduate from Texas A&M University in the spring. She died Wednesday night after suffering a severe brain injury in the tragedy November 5. Since then Bharati Sahani was on a ventilator, according to her family.
A stampede of fans during rap star Scott’s show last Friday night killed nine people between the ages of 14 and 27 and injured scores. An investigation continues into the tragedy.
Bharti’s heartbroken family Thursday confirmed she has been declared dead from injuries she suffered during the stampede. “She was like an angel to us, Bharti’s father Sunny said Thursday. Bharati’s mom and other family members sobbed and held hands behind him. “Bharti is love,” said mother Karishma, who was overcome by grief.
“Bharati was always thinking about everybody – friends, parents, family, her dog Blue. They say Bharti was the backbone of the family, ‘the light of their lives’ who was a gift from God,” Karishma said.
“She was everything to me,” Bharti’s younger sister Namrata said. “We did everything together… she was like a second mother to me.”
Bharati was a first-generation American of Indian origin and a good student. She would have graduated soon with a computer science degree. She also helped with the family business and took care of her sisters.
Also read: Music Concert tragedy: Travis Scott promises full refund
Bharti had never been to a concert before. She rarely did anything for herself, her mom said. However, Bharati decided to go see Travis Scott with Namrata and a cousin. “She was looking forward to it, she had her outfits planned, she tried everything on, she showed me,” Namrata sobbed hysterically.
The sisters were holding hands and enjoying the music, but they got separated during the crowd surge.
Texas A&M officials released a statement offering their condolences to Bharti’s family. “The Aggie family is deeply saddened to learn of Bharti’s death. Our deepest condolences go out to her family and friends. We encourage our campus community to be kind and patient with themselves and others as everyone experiences grief in different ways. We also encourage anyone struggling to lean on their peers and professionals who are here to listen and help,” officials said in a statement.
People at the concert described the crowd of about 50,000 as packed and dangerous before the concert even started.
“We were drowning. We were drowning. We were dying. We were screaming for help, screaming for the concert to stop, crying, yelling. No one listened. No one cared,” Bharati’s cousin, Mohit Bellani, informed.
Bharti, her sister Namrata and Bellani went to the Travis Scott concert together. They lost contact with each other and lost their cellphones when the crowd surged. “Once one person fell, people started toppling like dominos,” Bellani said on the local channel.
“It was like a sinkhole. People were falling on top of each other. There were … layers of bodies on the ground, like two people thick. We were fighting to come up to the top and (to) breathe (and) stay alive, Mohit informed.
Bharti’s family had set up a ‘GoFundMe’ to cover high medical expenses at the ICU, with over USD 79,184 raised as of now.
Another South Asian, Danish Baig, 27, was killed during the crowd rush while trying to save his fiancee, his brother was quoted as saying by local media.
Pakistani-American Danish, from Euless, Texas, fell during the chaos and was trampled by concertgoers while trying to protect Olivia Swingle.
“Travis Scott and his team and everyone associated in the event should and will be held responsible. He [didn’t] stop the show even with people chanting and to stop it. He allowed it. This was a bloodbath and all of it is on his hands,” Baig’s brother said.
Scott and event organisers have come under intense scrutiny for how they handled a crowd surge that injured hundreds.