Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Family ‘minutes away’ from blast
Scott Craig, his wife Carole and daughter Hannah had been at the Manchester Arena for the Ariana Grande show on Monday night when the bomb went off around 10.30pm.
Scott was at one side of the arena while Carole, Hannah and her carer were in the disabled section waiting for the crowds to disperse at the end of the concert.
He revealed that for more than half an hour he was unaware of whether his wife and daughter were alive or had been caught up in the explosion.
“It was awful. The concert ended and then there was this massive bang and the whole building shook,” he said.
“At first I thought it was pyrotechnics but then there was this big stampede and I tried to go back into the arena.
“I was told to get out by the stewards. Just minutes later there were six big police vans beside me and the whole place was swarming with police.
“My family were just minutes away from being in the very spot the bomb went off. They had been there before the concert, in the foyer where you buy merchandise. That’s the disabled access and exit and they would have been there a couple of minutes later.
“I had to sit in my car and wait for news of them. There was no signal so I think they must have shut down the networks. One of the carers managed to get through to me after about half an hour and told me they were all OK.”
Scott described how he had to wait outside for more than an hour for his traumatised wife and daughter to emerge from the arena. He added: “The feeling it gives you is awful, I didn’t know if they were OK. They were all in shock and I would say I was still in shock 24 hours later.”
Hannah, 20, has been described as Dundee’s own “superwoman” after making the Scottish International Boccia squad and was given the honour of carrying the Queen’s baton through the city centre two years ago on its way to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games. Her C2 incomplete spinal cord injury means she requires specialist carers to travel with her to events.
Scott said the family was still in Manchester attending the theatre last night, determined not to let the tragedy stop them carrying on their normal activities.
A DUNDEE dad has told how his wife and wheelchairbound daughter were just “minutes away from passing through the very spot” the Manchester suicide bomber chose to detonate his deadly weapon.