Better first aid ‘might have been able to save’ arena bomb girl Saffie
THE youngest victim of the Manchester Arena terror attack might have survived if she had received better first aid, a report has claimed.
Saffie-Rose Roussos, eight, was one of the 22 victims who died in the horrific suicide bombing in May 2017.
Now the public inquiry into the atrocity has vowed to investigate if a “different response may have led to a different outcome” for her.
The hearing, launched last September, had previously heard Saffie, of Leyland, Lancs, could not have been saved due to blood loss.
But experts commis- sioned by her family’s lawyers claim paramedics failed to use simple tourniquets to reduce her bleeding.
Referring to the new report, inquiry counsel Paul Greaney QC said Saffie’s death will be reconsidered due to “material generated since our opening statement”. Islamic Stateinspired Salman Abedi, 22, detonated a bomb in the foyer as an Ariana Grande pop concert finished.
His younger brother Hashem Abedi, now 23, was jailed last August for at least 55 years for helping his sibling plan the massacre.
Saffie’s family told of devastation.
The report claims she lived for over an hour after the attack and even asked a paramedic: “Am I going to die?”
Her father Andrew Roussos said: “She could have been saved. How do we carry on living with this information? I can’t look at Saffie’s picture since I’ve read this report.”
It is based on evidence that includes witness statements, as well as CCTV footage and body-worn cameras from
Jailed...Hashem Abedi yesterday their
the emergency services. The report said several people tried to help Saffie.Though she was bleeding heavily from serious leg injuries, nobody used a tourniquet, it was said.
It is claimed that when she was put in an ambulance it did not have all the necessary equipment on board.
Mr Roussos said: “Medically trained people were with her. She was asking for help. She knew what was happening and she bled to death.
“Eight year olds don’t ask those questions. Doesn’t matter how hurt they are, they want their mum.
“They want to be treated, they want to be out of pain. Not to be in the sound mind to ask the paramedic whether she’s going to die.”
The inquiry will also be investigating the emergency treatment of victim John Atkinson, 28, who was only evacuated from the scene 46 minutes after the blast on a makeshift stretcher.
Yesterday, the inquiry heard that firefighters did not arrive at Arena until two hours after the bombing.
It also heard that only one paramedic
entered the blast scene in the first 40 minutes.
Greater Manchester Police did not declare a major incident until the following day, the inquiry was told.
The hearing is currently analysing the emergency response to the attack.
Mr Greaney said it “did not take long” for concerns to emerge about how the 999 services responded.
Audio recordings showed that at 11.02pm an officer in the City Room foyer of the Arena, said: “We need paramedics like f ****** yesterday!”
Mr Greaney said six paramedics were at the site within 30 minutes of the blast, and within 40 minutes “at least” eight ambulances had arrived.
Three off-duty doctors were also present, he added.
But only one paramedic had entered the City Room area, and just one injured person was taken out on a makeshift stretcher in the first 40 minutes, it was claimed.
Mr Greaney told the inquiry: “We will be drawing attention to the fact that a different response may have led to a different outcome.”