LONDON: One of the survivors of the Brussels airport attack in 2016 has died after electing to be euthanized following severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and after two attempts to take her own life.
Shanti De Corte, 23, was 17 when she was walking through the airport’s departure lounge on March 22, 2016, with her classmates ahead of a school trip to Italy as Daesh detonated a bomb that claimed 32 lives and injured more than 300 others.
The Daily Mail reports that the psychological effects of the attack left De Corte facing constant panic attacks and depression.
She attempted suicide in 2018, and again two years later. De Corte attended a psychiatric hospital in her hometown of Antwerp but, unable to relieve the psychological wounds of the attack, she opted for euthanasia, a legal procedure in Belgium. She died on May 7 this year after two psychiatrists approved her request.
De Corte’s mother Marielle, speaking to Belgian TV earlier this week, said: “That day really cracked her; she never felt safe after that. She didn’t want to go anywhere where other people were, out of fear. She also had frequent panic attacks and she never got rid of it.”
De Corte had written on social media: “With all the medications I take, I feel like a ghost that can’t feel anything anymore. Maybe there were other solutions than medications.”
Her school psychologist described De Corte as “one of those fragile” people, telling Belgian media that some react worse than others to traumatic events.
De Corte, who was surrounded by family as she died, posted: “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.”