Doc hurt in arena bomb tried to help others

A DOCTOR wounded in the Manchester Arena bombing told an inquiry that he went back in to help other casualties.

Dr Darah Burke was at the Ariana Grande concert in 2017 with wife Ann and their daughter Catherine, 10.

He spoke about the moment Salman Abedi detonated his home-made rucksack bomb in the venue’s City Room.

Dr Burke said: “There was a loud bang – very loud – and I was kind of thrown forward slightly. I went into a crouching position. Everything seemed quite dark, almost debris in the air. Ann was standing up, but not straight. Catherine was on the floor. Catherine was screaming.” Dr Burke suffered a shrapnel injury that fractured his right leg. His wife had shrapnel injuries to her thigh and a deep wound in her heel.

Their daughter suffered 16 shrapnel injuries to her arms and legs and permanent deafness in her right ear.

After the blast, the Burkes got their daughter out of the foyer on to a linkbridge leading to Victoria railway station.

He said: “Catherine was saying she could not see, her eyes were screwed tight. She had a lot of blood on her right side, upper limb and lower limb and head.”

But he knew she was not in “immediate danger” as she was responsive.

Dr Burke left briefly to go back into the

City Room. He helped an injured man out on to the bridge and directed emergency responders to the most seriously hurt but was too injured to assist them further. The Burkes were all taken to hospital. Earlier, Sarah Nellist had told the hearing in Manchester that she saw Abedi in the foyer as she waited for her daughter, 17, and six-year-old niece.

Sarah, from North Wales, said: “He just looked odd. It was in the corner of my eye. He detonated the bomb.” She said the blast was “like black powder paint” and that the heat of it “was just unbelievable”.

Paul Greaney QC had reopened the hearing after an Easter break.