Daily Star

Arena bomb probe slams fire chiefs

- By JERRY LAWTON

®

A SURVIVOR of the Manchester Arena suicide bombing last night claimed 999 chiefs had “blood on their hands”.

Martin Hibbert, 41, hit out as a report into the terror attack revealed a catalogue of cock-ups.

Twenty-two people died when Salman Abedi blew himself up at an Ariana Grande concert on May 22 last year. More than 100 were injured.

A report published yesterday criticised the chaotic reaction of emergency services chiefs.

It said “outside the loop” firefighte­rs “played no meaningful role” for more than two hours after the blast after a mix-up between bosses.

“Risk averse” chiefs stuck to rules designed to keep first responders safe from marauding terrorists, and held back firefighte­rs desperate to deploy.

Instead of heading to the scene, fire crews and a special response team trained to deal with terrorist incidents were sent to a station outside the city centre. Ambulance workers were not given the same message and paramedics stayed at the scene, saving lives, the report said.

The report also found: ¬ A senior fire officer was unable to get through on the phone to the police inspector in charge; ¬ An emergency response phoneline provided by Vodafone failed: ¬ Paramedics did not have enough medical supplies or stretchers: ¬ The fire service should reflect on poor communicat­ion, poor procedures and issues of operationa­l culture. The report added: “A common perspectiv­e was that there were too few paramedics in the foyer assisting the injured. “Some felt there was a delay in treatment and transfer to hospital.” Many of the injured were concerned at the need to use makeshift stretchers and over lack of first aid equipment. Football agent Martin, who was at the gig with his daughter, said the probe had not provided any answers. He claimed there were “people trying to protect their reputation­s” and they now had “blood on their hands” for not entering the Arena sooner.

He added: “The scene was like what you would see in Iraq and Afghanista­n. It was a battlefiel­d. The first aiders had first aid kits and trauma bags. That’s all.”

Lord Kerslake, who led the review, said “not one single reason or one individual” was to blame for the errors. But he said it was “quite extraordin­ary” that the fire service “did not pick up what was happening”. He added: “They should have gone forward not back.

“The firefighte­rs wanted to go forward but they were not able to.”

Last night Greater Manchester’s acting fire chief Dawn Docx apologised unreserved­ly.

She admitted firefighte­rs desperate to get to the Arena had been “failed by senior colleagues”.

The Star Says: Page 6

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