UPDATE Nov. 11, 1:55 p.m.: The Shahani family’s lawyer announced in a Thursday news conference that Texas A&M student Bharti Shahani has died, according to AP News. Shahani is now the ninth victim of the Astroworld disaster.
A Texas A&M senior has shown no brain activity after experiencing an injury in the stampede at the Astroworld Festival in Houston, according to KTRK.
Bharti Shahani is a 22-year-old undergraduate in electronic systems engineering technology and a Houston native, set to graduate in the spring 2022 semester. She has been in critical condition and on a ventilator since the Nov. 5 concert, her family told KTRK.
Shahani, her sister Namrata Shahani and her cousin Mohit Bellani went to the Travis Scott concert together, but lost contact with each other and lost their cellphones when the crowd surged.
“Once one person fell, people started toppling like dominos,” Bellani said in the KTRK article. “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.”
A criminal investigation has since been opened into the disaster, according to KHOU. The criminal probe will target many entities, including concert promoter Live Nation, operators of the NRG park venue, contractors at the event and Travis Scott himself.
“I want people to understand what we experienced and to make sure nothing like this ever, ever happens to anyone ever again,” Bellani told KTRK.
Bharti’s family told KRTK medical expenses have mounted, and they have set up a GoFundMe to help cover the cost, with over $53,000 raised as of press time.
“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,” Bharti’s father Sunny Shahani told KTRK. “I request all of Houston to pray for her. Maybe the prayers might work as a miracle for her.”