Indian American student dies after being trampled at music concert
Darpan News Desk IANS, 12 Nov, 2021 11:40 AM
New York, Nov 12 (IANS) An Indian American student has died after being trampled at a rap music concert in Houston, Texas, when the crowd estimated at 50,000 jostled.
Bharti Shahani, 22, died on Wednesday from injuries she suffered in the incident on Saturday, her family said at a news conference on Thursday.
She was the ninth person to die from injuries at the concert. A nine-year-old boy was fighting for his life on a ventilator on Friday.
"Nightmare, horror, barbarity and catastrophe. And that's what happened that night," said her cousin Mohit Bellani, who had been to the concert with her and her sister.
She was the ninth victim in the incident that took place during a performance by rapper Travis Scott at the Astroworld Festival at a stadium.
Doctors had placed her on a ventilator after a chaotic evacuation from the stadium in a bid to save her, but she died on the fifth day.
Her family said that they were donating her organs.
"Bharti is love," her mother Karishma Shahani said.
Breaking down at the news conference she said amid tears, "What happened to my blessing now? I want my baby back."
This was the first time that Bharti Shahani, who is a final year electronics engineering undergraduate student, had gone to a concert.
ABC network's KHOU TV station in Houston said that according to the Shahani family's lawyer, she had been dropped from a gurney while being evacuated.
The lawyer, James Lassiter, has filed a $20 million case against the organisers and various people involved.
The Houston Chronicle reported delays in reacting to that the tragedy.
It was reported at 9:11 and police declared it a mass casualty event at 9:38 p.m., but Travis Scott continued playing for at least 25 more minutes, the Chronicle said.
The Pentagon promptly announced it will press ahead with plans to require members of the military to get vaccinated amid the battle against the extra-contagious delta variant. Louisiana State University likewise said it will demand its students get the shot.
The situation at the Kabul airport has remained tense ever since the Taliban fighters swept into Kabul without encountering any resistance, and gained full control over the Afghan capital within a few hours on August 15.
Barrons, a Dow Jones & Company publication, said that tensions in the "Middle East have the potential to lift prices." It noted that earlier JP Morgan had predicted that oil prices could touch $80 a barrel with rising demand and constraint supply.
While Biden has previously blamed Afghans for the U.S. failure to get out more allies ahead of this month's sudden Taliban takeover, U.S. officials told The Associated Press that American diplomats had formally urged weeks ago that the administration ramp up evacuation efforts.
In a statement on Friday, the U.N. health agency said the new scientific group would provide the WHO with an independent analysis of the work done to date to pinpoint the origins of COVID-19 and to advise the agency on necessary next steps. The experts will also provide guidance on critical issues regarding the potential emergence of other viruses capable of triggering outbreaks, such as MERS and Ebola.
During their first press conference on Tuesday the Taliban pressed the right button-backing women's rights. But their promise of protecting women's rights had an important nuance: Women will enjoy freedoms but within the ambit of "Islamic law" .
