Entertainment
Astroworld attendee, 22, has ‘no brain activity’ after crush at Travis Scott festival
Travis Scott said he was ‘devastated’ by the tragedy (Picture: Erika Goldring/WireImage,)
A 22-year-old woman has shown no brain activity following an injury she sustained at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival.
Eight people between the ages of 14 and 27 were killed at the concert in Houston, Texas, last Friday, when a large crowd surged towards the stage during Scott’s performance.
Bharti Shahani, a student at Texas A&M University, is in critical condition and is on a ventilator after being injured at the concert.
Shahani had attended Astroworld with her her sister Namrata Shahani and her cousin Mohit Bellani, but became separated from them when the crowd surged.
Bellani told ABC13: ‘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.’
Bharti became separated from her friends (Picture: GoFundMe)
Shahani was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, and her parents had to go to multiple hispitals to find her after initially going to NRG Park when they heard the news.
Her father Sunny Shahani told ABC13 that his daughter had suffered multiple heart attacks and lost oxygen for up to 10 minutes, with doctors telling him that ‘the chances of survival are nothing’.
A GoFundMe has been set up for the Shahani family to cover the ‘mounting expenses during this strenuous time’, and has raised $34,000 (£25,000) so far.
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 confirmed as the eight victims of the tragedy, with over 300 others injured.
Eight people died at the festival (Picture: Thomas Shea / AFP)
A nine-year-old boy, Ezra Blount, is also in a medically-induced coma after being trampled when he fell from his father’s shoulders.
Sicko Mode rapper Scott, real name Jacques Webster, has faced intense criticism over accusations he continued his performance while unconscious bodies were being pulled from the crowd.
Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña told the Today programme: ‘The artist has command of that crowd. In my opinion – and this is my opinion because everything is going to be fleshed out throughout this investigation – the artist, if he notices something that’s going on, he can certainly pause that performance, turn on the lights, and say, “Hey, we’re not gonna continue until this thing is resolved.”’
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Peña added that he wasn’t blaming Scott for the surge, saying: ‘I’m not prepared to say that he was fully aware of what was going on.’
The 30-year-old rapper stated that he was unaware of the ‘severity’ of the situation until after the show.
Scott, who is expecting his second child with Kylie Jenner, has reportedly pledged to pay for the funerals of the victims, and has partnered with mental health organisations to provide counselling for those affected by the tragedy.
The star – who was previously arrested twice for public disorder charges at his shows – has already been hit by a number of lawsuits.
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