A woman who survived the 2016 Islamic State terror attack in Brussels airport has chosen to die by being euthanised because of the severe PTSD and depression she suffered after the attack.
Shanti Di Corte, 23, had been at Zaventem airport in Belgium for a school trip to Italy with her classmates on 22 March, 2016, when the bomb went off.
Together with two other detonations, the Islamic State attack claimed 32 lives that day. Shanti managed to escape without any physical injuries.
But the then-17-year-old experienced periods of dark depression and constant panic attacks after that day at the Belgian airport and eventually began feeling suicidal.
She attended a psychiatric hospital in Antwerp, Belgium - where she is from - and began taking antidepressant medication.
But the psychological impact of the attack left such a mark on her that she attempted suicide twice, once in 2018 and then again in 2020.
And then earlier this year, Shanti chose to be euthanised, which is legal in Belgium, reports Belgian outlet VRT. She died on 7 May after two psychiatrists approved the request.
Shanti’s mother Marielle shared her story with the news outlet, describing the pain her daughter felt after being at the airport when the bombs went off.
“She didn’t want to go anywhere where other people were, out of fear,” Marielle said. “She also had frequent panic attacks and she never got rid of it.”
Shanti would write about her suffering on social media, in one post saying: “I get a few medications for breakfast. And up to 11 antidepressants a day. I couldn’t live without it.
“With all the medications I take, I feel like a ghost that can’t feel anything anymore.”
Her school psychologist told RTBF: “There are some students who react worse than others to traumatic events. And having interviewed her twice, I can tell you that Shanti De Corte was one of those fragile students.”
She wanted doctors to perform euthanaisa on her because of her “unbearable psychiatric suffering”, according to RTBF.
According to the report following Shanti’s death, she was euthanised on 7 May surrounded by her family.
In her final social media post, Shanti wrote: “I was laughing and crying. Until the last day. I loved and was allowed to feel what true love is.
“Now I will go away in peace. Know that I miss you already.”
Prosecutors in Antwerp have started an investigation after neurologist Paul Deltenre from UZC Brugman academic clinical hospital submitted several complaints saying the decision to euthanise Shanti was made “prematurely”.
Belgium’s Federal Commission for the Control and Evaluation of Euthanasia did not have any concerns over Shanti’s case.
RTBF however said Deltenre argued there was still care and treatment out there that Shanti had not tried.
