Mum: ‘We’ll never forget screams’
AMUM-OF-TWO told of her family’s horror when they were caught up in the Manchester bombing, saying her girls would “never forget the screams” heard that night.
Louise Ramsey, 48, from Up Holland, was at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester Arena with her two daughters, Lauren, 15, and EmmaJayne, 18.
The girls were in the arena with their mum when the bomb went off in the foyer and were caught up in the mass panic and crush to flee the area.
Louise said: “It was getting quite late and usually me and the girls leave early to catch the last train home.
“My 15-year-old, who’s a huge Ariana fan, asked ‘please can we stay until the very last bit?’
“Ariana had finished off and said her love to Manchester and then... bang.”
Mass panic ensued in the arena and Louise said she could hear screaming as people starting jumping from chair to chair to escape.
She said: “My natural reaction was as a mother and I thought there was a lone gunman in there.”
Louise grabbed her daughters and tried to rush them out of the arena to safety. She followed the crowd and said the crush to escape was “unbearable”.
She added: “I calmed down instantly because I saw they were still selling t-shirts. I thought nothing could be wrong here.
“I said to the girls to stop crying – everything is going to be fine. The worst mistake I made was saying we had to get our train.”
As Louise went to get the train with her children, she was met with a scene of absolute chaos and devastation.
She said: “The first thing my 15-year-old saw was a girl lying with her mother and her mouth was bleeding.
“People were just lined up with masses of injuries.
“I said to my girls, ‘look at them – they are alive. They must have gotten crushed getting out.’
“People were screaming that there was a bomb. We will never get rid of the sound of that fear scream. It wasn’t like the screams for Ariana. It was awful.”
In the aftermath of their ordeal, Louise has tried to discourage her daughters from looking at photos of the attack and said her youngest daughter is struggling to come to terms with what has happened.
The family were due to go on holiday to Florida this week, but events have left Louise’s youngest daughter too shaken to want to go.
One of Louise’s daughters said she felt an angel was looking over the family that night and protecting them from harm.
Two girls from West Lancashire, Georgina Callender and Saffie Rose Roussos were killed in the attack which claimed the lives of 22 people. MOVING tributes to the two local victims of the Manchester attack were expressed late last week, immediately followed by the hanging of balloons and ribbons in memory of Saffie Rose Roussos and Georgina Callender (see pages 8&9).
Top, a tribute stands outside a shop in the centre of Tarleton Centre, flowers in the centre of the village Above, people are overwhelmed with emotion