Woman who survived 2016 ISIS attack euthanised

A woman who survived ISIS’s 2016 attack on Brussels airport was euthanised after suffering severe depression and PTSD. Shanti De Corte, 23, was walking through the departures lounge of the Belgian airport in Zaventem on March 22, 2016 when an ISIS terrorist detonated a bomb.

Then 17, Ms De Corte survived the explosion but was left with constant panic attacks and bouts of dark depression from which she never managed to emerge.

She attended a psychiatric hospital in Antwerp for rehabilitation and took a range of anti-depressant medications, but attempted suicide on two occasions in 2018 and 2020.

Earlier in 2022, Ms De Corte opted to be euthanised after two psychiatrists approved her request.

At 23 years old, Ms De Corte died on May 7, 2022.

Marielle De Corte has now spoke to Belgian outlet VRT of Shanti’s depression and decision to be euthanised.

She 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.”

Euthanasia, the practice of intentionally ending a person’s life to relieve pain and suffering, is legal in Belgium.

It is available to people who are in a “medically futile condition of constant and unbearable physical or mental suffering that cannot be alleviated, resulting from a serious and incurable disorder caused by illness or accident”.

Another Belgium outlet, RTBF, said Ms De Corte asked a psychiatric hospital in Antwerp to perform euthanasia for “unbearable psychiatric suffering”.

In her touching final post on social media the day she was euthanised, Ms  De Corte 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.”

Antwerp prosecutors began an investigation after receiving complaints from a neurologist at the UZC Brugman academic clinical hospital in Brussels who said the decision to euthanise Ms De Corte “was made prematurely”.

The Federal Commission for the Control and Evaluation of Euthanasia in Belgium had no concerns over the case, but neurologist Paul Deltenre argued that there were still different modalities of care and treatment available to Shanti that were not tried, according to RTBF.

ISIS carried out a coordinated terror attack in Belgium in 2016, with two suicide bombers at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, and one at Maalbeek metro station on the Brussels metro.

32 civilians and three perpetrators were killed, and more than 300 people were injured.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The Samaritans can be reached round the clock, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

If you need a response immediately, it’s best to call them on the phone. You can reach them by calling 116 123, by emailing [email protected] or by visiting www.samaritans.org.

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