Manchester bombing victim, 8, was ‘a beautiful little girl’
LONDON (AP) — Saffie Roussos, aged eight, was the youngest of the 22 victims identified so far.
In a statement, the head teacher of the Tarleton Community Primary School that she attended in the village of Tarleton, Lancashire, described her as “simply a beautiful little girl in every aspect of the word.”
“She was loved by everyone and her warmth and kindness will be remembered fondly. Saffie was quiet and unassuming with a creative flair,” said head teacher Chris Upton.
”The thought that anyone could go out to a concert and not come home is heartbreaking,” he said.
The schoolgirl had been at the concert with her mother Lisa Roussos and sister Ashlee Bromwich, in her 20s, from Leyland, Lancashire. They are both now in separate hospitals being treated for injuries, friends said.
A Polish couple living in Britain were also among the 22 victims of the suicide attack, Poland’s foreign minister said yesterday.
“The parents went to pick up their daughters after the concert and unfortunately this morning we received news that they did not survive the explosion,” Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told the commercial RMF Radio station.
Polish media identified the couple as Angelika and Marcin Klis, quoting social media posts by family members who began searching for them after they went missing on Monday night.
Waszczykowski also confirmed that a third Polish national was injured.
“He is also the father of a family that attended the concert, luckily he is in hospital following a serious operation but everything suggests he will live,” Waszczykowski said.
Georgina Callander, a student, was a mega fan of Ariana Grande, with a picture of the two circulating on social media as her name emerged as the first confirmed victim. Peter Rawlinson, deputy of the Bishop Rawstorne Church of England Academy in Croston, northwest of Manchester, where Callander was a former pupil, told The Associated Press that her family had confirmed the death.
Rawlinson says Callander “was academically a very gifted student, very hardworking. Just lovely to speak to.”
The school posted a photo of Georgina on its website, smiling and looking smart in her school uniform. It said she died of wounds from the attack and described her as “a lovely young student who was very popular with her peers and the staff.”
Runshaw College in Leyland, Lancashire said Callander expressed “enormous sadness” at her death, saying she was on the second year of her health and social care course.