YOUNGEST VICTIM’S MUM STILL IN DARK
8-year-old’s mother may not know yet daughter died, as she is in ICU
THE mother of an 8-yearold killed in the explosion was is in intensive care — and may not yet know that her little girl has died.
It is unclear whether Lisa Roussos had learnt of her daughter’s fate before being placed under heavy sedation.
Saffie Roussos — believed to be the youngest to die in the attack and one of the United Kingdom’s youngest-ever terror victims — was leaving the concert with her mother, 48, and half-sister Ashlee Bromwich, 25, when they were hit by shrapnel from the blast. Saffie died at the scene, while her relatives were taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Friends and family had issued desperate appeals for information about their whereabouts on social media, only to receive the crushing news of Saffie’s death.
Her aunt told the Daily Mail last night: “I can’t even imagine what Lisa will be feeling. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. There is nothing anyone can do or say to make it any better. All our lives have been devastated. Saffie was such a bubbly little girl. She was really pretty, absolutely adorable. I’m just numb inside.
Roussos’s husband, Andrew, 43, was understood to be at her bedside last night. The couple runs a fish and chip shop in Leyland, Lancashire.
At Saffie’s school yesterday, children and parents were seen leaving in tears.
Anita Townsley, whose grandson attends Tarleton Community Primary School, near Preston, said: “Everyone is devastated. For the kids to be so looking forward to a concert and then for this to happen — it’s awful. It’s such a close community, everyone’s absolutely heartbroken.’
Saffie’s aunt and uncle said Lisa was undergoing surgery for shrapnel wounds.
“Ashlee is in another hospital, but stable, we think,” they added.
Another of the bombing victims had achieved her dream when she met United States singer Ariana Grande two years ago.
After posing arm in arm with her favourite singer, Georgina Callander wrote that it was the “best concert of my life”.
When the 18-year-old secured a ticket to Grande’s return to the Manchester Arena on Monday, she was unable to contain her excitement.
Georgina sent a message to the star on Twitter which said: “SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU TOMORROW.”
She also sent excited messages to friends to discuss meeting up before the concert. Georgina, the first victim to be named, met Grande on June 4, 2015, in a backstage area of the Manchester Arena.
Yesterday, some of the celebrities she had met paid tribute. Sean Maguire, who appeared in the TV series Grange Hill and
Once Upon A Time, met Georgina last month.
He said: “She was so young and sweet. She was killed last night in Manchester. My love to her and all the families of the victims.”
Her mother attended a vigil in her memory last night, clutching a blanket and laying a single yellow flower on the ground.
John Atkinson, 28, was another victim to be named yesterday. His family was too upset to speak at
his home in Radcliffe. Daily Mail