Bharti Shahani, a 22-year-old Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University student, has been declared brain dead after she suffered an injury in the Astroworld Festival crowd surge that killed at least eight people over the weekend.
Bharti, her sister Namrata Shahani and cousin Mohit Bellani went to attend the concert together but lost each other when the crowd surged towards the stage. Namrata and Mohit both lost their mobile phones and were not able to locate Bharti.
Mohit told ABC Houston, “Once one person fell, people started toppling like dominos. It was like a sinkhole. People were falling on top of each other. There were like layers of bodies on the ground, like two people thick. We were fighting to come up to the top and breathe to stay alive.” He said that Bharti lost oxygen for several minutes and because of that, her brain stem got swollen to almost 90%.
“The doctors, they say the chances of survival are nothing, which I have not even spoken to my wife until now. We keep saying we’ll pray. I request all of Houston to pray for her. Maybe the prayers might work as a miracle for her,” Bharti’s father Sunny Shahani said.
Bharti was rushed to Houston Methodist Hospital and was given CPR on the way there. Her family has said that she suffered multiple heart attacks.
Jacob Jurinek (21), John Hilgert (14), Brianna Rodriguez (16), Franco Patiño (21), Axel Acosta (21), Rudy Peña (23), Madison Dubiski (23) and Danish Baig (27) have been identified as those who died on Friday after fans in the crowd of around 50,000 people, began to rush towards the stage where Travis Scott was performing.
Travis opened up about the tragedy and tweeted, “I’m absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival. Houston PD has my total support as they continue to look into the tragic loss of life. I am committed to working together with the Houston community to heal and support families in need. Thank you to Houston PD, Fire Department, and NRG Park for their immediate response and support. Love You All.”
