CHRISSY ARCHIBALD, THE CANADIAN VICTIM IN THE LONDON TERROR ATTACK, WAS OUT FOR A WALK WITH HER FIANCÉ WHEN SHE WAS KILLED. THE FAMILY HAS REVEALED THAT HE ‘WATCHED HER DIE IN HIS ARMS.’
DETAILS OF HORROR, HEROISM EMERGE
Chrissy Archibald was walking across London Bridge with her fiancé, Tyler Ferguson, when the terrorists’ van careered onto the pavement and mowed her down.
Ferguson, who was walking just ahead of Archibald, looked back at her as he heard screeching tires and saw victims being knocked down, his family says.
He desperately tried to resuscitate her but she died as he held her.
“He held her and watched her die in his arms,” says his sister, Cassie Ferguson Rowe. “He is broken into a million pieces.”
The couple had only recently become engaged after Archibald, a 30-year-old Calgary woman who grew up in Castlegar, B.C., moved to the Netherlands, where Ferguson works as an accountant.
When he was sent to London for work, they decided to make the most of the opportunity to enjoy a weekend break in the capital, a city Archibald had never visited. And on Saturday, they had decided to take a night time walking tour.
“My baby brother lost the love of his life on the London Bridge,” Ferguson Rowe wrote on Facebook.
“In a split second his entire life was ripped away from him. Hearing his painful sobs on the phone while he’s alone trying to deal with this tears me apart. I have no words.”
Archibald, who held a degree in social work and worked for more than two years at a homeless shelter in Calgary, was the first-named victim of Saturday night’s terror attack in London, in which seven died and 48 were injured.
As of Monday, police had not yet confirmed the names of people caught up in the attack, but the sister of a missing 32-year-old London man said her brother was believed to be among the dead. Melissa McMullan told Sky News that police informed her James McMullan’s bank card had been found on one of the bodies.
“While our pain will never diminish, it is important for us all to carry on with our lives in direct opposition to those who wish to destroy us and remember that hatred is the refuge of small-minded individuals and will only breed more,” she said.
McMullan said authorities are “unable to formally identify him until the coroner’s report begins (Tuesday).”
James McMullan was working on a web-based business to “revolutionize education,” according to his father.
“He was on the verge of signing his first contract, a $1.5-million deal,” said Simon McMullan. “It will radically change the face of education — I am going to continue his work. My son really was an exceptional man.”
A French citizen is also among the victims, according to France’s foreign ministry. The Frenchman was a 27-year-old from Saint-Malo in Brittany who was working in the Boro Bistro near the site of the assault, French media reported.
He died after he was stabbed in the neck by one of the attackers who burst into the restaurant and started slashing customers and staff, according to an account in the French media.
The family of a 21-year-old Australian woman who has been working in London as a nanny also fear she is among the dead, as she has not been heard from since she was last seen on London Bridge on Saturday night.
In a desperate plea on Facebook, a family friend of Sara Zelenak called out for people to share information about her whereabouts.
“She got separated from her friends and has not been seen since. Her phone has rang with no reply and now the battery must have gone … She calls her mum daily. It’s been over 24 hours with no news from the consulate.”
Zelenak’s stepfather, Mark Wallace, said on Monday they had received no information in the past 48 hours from British authorities and her mother, Julie, was now heading to the U.K. to help the hunt.
Also reported missing by frantic families and friends were a Frenchman who was out with a group of friends and whose girlfriend, Christine Delcros, was reportedly seriously injured and who is recovering in hospital; and French chef Sebastien Belanger who was last seen watching the Champions League soccer final on TV in a pub at London Bridge on Saturday night.
Also missing was 39-yearold Ignacio Echeverria, a Spanish man who according to friends “confronted” one of the attackers, who was stabbing a woman.
According to his brother, Echeverria tried to fight off the terrorist using his skateboard. His brother wrote on Facebook: “He was seen fallen down after defending a woman with his skate (board).”
According to Europa Press, Echeverria’s friends also said he confronted the assailant and was later seen lying on the pavement. Echeverria’s employer, HSBC Bank, has reportedly hired a private investigator to try to locate him.