Astroworld victim Bharti Shahani dies nearly a week after crowd surge that killed 8 others

The Texas A&M senior had shown no brain activity a day before family said she succumbed to her injuries from the festival.

ByPooja Lodhia KTRK logo

Thursday, November 11, 2021

Family in tears as they announce 9th Astroworld victim's death

Bharti Shahani's family broke down in tears as they went public with the news of their loved one's death days after the Astroworld Festival.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Bharti Shahani, the 22-year-old Texas A&M University senior who had been hospitalized after the Astroworld Festival, has died, becoming the ninth concertgoer to lose his or her life from the Travis Scott show six days ago.

The attorney of Shahani's family announced on Thursday that she succumbed to her critical injuries just the evening before.

Up until her passing, the young woman's family said she had been on a ventilator. She showed no brain activity shortly after her hospitalization.

Attorney James Lassiter also acknowledged widely-circulated video depicting a young woman on a gurney being dropped at the festival while she was being evacuated by medical personnel. Shahani was the person on the gurney, the attorney said without giving additional information on that moment.

"There have been a lot of questions, and I think it's common knowledge, but there was a video going around that most people have seen of a young lady falling from a gurney as they were trying to get her out there - evacuate her. That was Bharti Shahani," Lassiter said.

FULL VIDEO: Family remembers 22-year-old concertgoer who died days after Astroworld Fest

Bharti Shahani's family members were in tears as they remembered the life of their loved one, lost in the Astroworld Fest disaster.

Shahani, her sister Namrata Shahani and her cousin Mohit Bellani went to the concert together, but lost each other when the crowd surged.

"Once one person fell, people started toppling like dominos. It was like a sinkhole. People were falling on top of each other," Bellani said. "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."

"For the first time in her life she just wanted to have fun, and that was taken from her," said Namrata.

Namrata added that her sister's last words to her were, "Are you OK?"

"This was 100% avoidable. This was an act of pure brutality, " Lassiter said.

He blamed the producers and Live Nation for lack of trained medics, security and packing concertgoers in with barricades. "They suffocated Bharti."

Bharti was taken to Houston Methodist Hospital by ambulance. Paramedics gave her CPR on the way there.

Family has said Bharti had suffered multiple heart attacks.

Bharti has been studying electronics systems engineering at TAMU, and was set to graduate in the spring. She had already secured a summer internship, and her father said she planned on taking over the family business after graduating.

"She was the backbone of the family," he recalled. "Saying, 'Daddy, don't worry about it, I'll help you out in the business once I'm done with my graduation.'"

Bharti's family has set up a GoFundMe. If you'd like to donate, head to this page on the GoFundMe website.

Another concertgoer, 9-year-old Ezra Blount, remains hospitalized. Similar to Shahani, Ezra has shown no brain activity shortly after he was admitted into Texas Children's Hospital.