Astroworld Death Toll Rises to Nine

A 22-year-old named Bharti Shahani passed away yesterday after sustaining serious injuries at the Houston festival

Photo: Rick Clifford

BY Allie GregoryPublished Nov 11, 2021

Another concert-goer has lost their life after sustaining serious injuries during the crowd surge at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival in Houston on November 5, which previously saw eight dead and hundreds injured.

Bharti Shahani, a 22-year-old Texas student, was confirmed to have passed yesterday (November 10), her family's lawyer confirmed at a press conference today [via Rolling Stone].

"She was like an angel to us," Shahani's father, Bhagu "Sunny" Shahani, said during the press conference. "She was the head of the family, she was a very nice girl. Always calm, always listened. She had a bright future. Only thing I'll request, to the Houstonians, to please, please make sure that she gets justice. And I don't want somebody else's daughter to go like this."

Following the crowd surge, Shahani reportedly suffered multiple heart attacks, losing 10 minutes of oxygen in one instance, and seven in another, causing her to show no signs of brain activity in hospital, her cousin Mohit Bellani told ABC13. Shahani's sister Namrata Shahani explained that she lost hold of the deceased when the crowd began to advance toward the stage. "Once we let go of her hand, the next time we saw her, we were in the ER," she said.

Shahani's passing marks the ninth death linked to the mass casualty event, which has spurred multiple lawsuits, including those that implicate Scott, Drake and Live Nation as culpable parties.

Shahani was due to graduate from Texas A&M in 2022 with a degree in electronics systems engineering. Her family have set up a GoFundMe to help cover medical bills.

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