Shanti De Corte, 23, was present at Brussels airport during the March 2016 attacks. Victim of serious psychological suffering, the young woman was euthanized last May.
His suffering had become unsustainable. On March 22, 2016, Shanti De Cortethen aged 17, went to Zaventem airport, Brussels, in Belgium. The girl was to travel to Rome, Italy for her graduation trip. As she waited for her flight in the departures hall, terrorists detonated explosives, a few meters from her. If she was not physically injured during this attack, which caused the death of 16 people, Shanti De Corte is came out traumatized of this tragic attack. And she will never recover. Victim of a “unbearable mental suffering“as pointed out by RTBFShanti De Corte was euthanized on May 7surrounded by her family, at the age of 23, specifies the Belgian media.
This drama remained permanently engraved in the memory of Shanti De Corte. “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 these fragile students“, explained the psychologist of the school of the young Flemish. Before adding that for her it is “light” Than Shanti De Corte “had already had serious psychological problems before the attack“.
“Up to 11 antidepressants a day”
The teenager had already stayed several times in a Antwerp psychiatric structure, before the attacks in Brussels. She was again hospitalized there after the tragedy, and received heavy treatment there. “I get several drugs at breakfast. And up to 11 antidepressants per day. I could not live without it“, she wrote on her Facebook account at the time. Shanti De Corte will even have to deal with another trauma. In 2018 she was victim of sexual assault by another patient in the hospital.
Shanti De Corte had managed to get better, even wishing to be an example for the other victims of attacks, to whom she then wanted to promise that he is possible to get out. But in 2020, the girl makes a another suicide attempt. Her clearly visible suffering arouses the concern of her five best friends, who were also present during the attack of March 22, 2016 and deeply marked by the attack. As RTBF points out, the five students took part in a therapeutic week in Ostend; a project led by Myriam Vermandel, another victim of the attacks. “They explained to us that Shanti had already done several requests for euthanasia for unalterable mental sufferingbut that they had all been refused so far”remembered Myriam Vermandel.
Shanti De Corte wanted to “leave in peace”
It was in April 2022 that the Fleming sought the help of Leif, an association for the defense of the right to die with dignity. She then submits a new request for euthanasia for irrevocable psychiatric sufferingwhich this time will be accepted by two psychiatrists. Before passing away, Shanti De Corte posted a heartbreaking message on Facebook: “I laughed and I cried. Until the very last day. I loved and I was allowed to feel what true love was. I will now leave in peace. Know that I miss you already.“