Eighth victim of jihadists found in Thames after being hit by van on bridge
THE body of an eighth victim of the London Bridge terror attack was discovered in the Thames, one and a half miles downstream from where he had been thrown into the water, police said yesterday.
The man, believed to be French national Xavier Thomas, 45, was found by specialist officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Marine Police Unit who have been scouring the river since Saturday night.
Just minutes before the body was recovered on Tuesday evening, police had issued an appeal to find Mr Thomas, whose girlfriend Christine Delcros was badly injured in the attack when the terrorists’ van smashed into pedestrians on London Bridge.
It is thought that Mr Thomas was thrown into the river when he was also hit by the van. Friends and family made a desperate search for him, taking pictures to hospitals and police stations, but staff said none of the dead or injured matched his description.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “Formal identification has not yet taken place, however Mr Thomas’s next of kin have been informed of this development.”
Yesterday French president Emmanuel Macron confirmed a third citizen had died in the attack.
The other two French victims were named as waiter Alexandre Pigeard, 27, and chef Sebastien Belanger, 36.
“We received confirmation of the new toll this morning,” said Mr Macron. “There are three deaths and eight injuries on the French side.”
He said that the deaths had taken a “heavy toll” on France. Spanish lawyer Ignacio Echeverría, 39, was also finally confirmed as dead following calls from the Spanish foreign minister Alfonso Dastis for the identification process to be speeded up.
Mr Echeverría, who worked in fraud prevention at HSBC, was coming back from an evening of skateboarding with friends when he stumbled across the terror attack at Borough Market.
When he saw a woman being stabbed by the terrorists, he ran to her aid, fighting off the attackers using only his skateboard.
The Spanish government paid tribute to Mr Echeverría, saying he had shown “solidarity and bravery in defending a helpless person”. Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, tweeted his condolences to the family.
Mr Echeverría’s sister, Isabel, said: “Our heart is with our uncles and aunts and cousins, Guillermo Gonzalez Arnau, Javi and Guille and all the friends and family who have lost my brother.”
The sister of British web entrepreneur James Mcmullan, 32, who also died in Saturday’s attack, laid tributes for her brother at London Bridge.
Melissa Mcmullan, who left candles and flowers, said: “He was an inspira- tion. No words can ever match his essence. There will only ever be one James. Nowhere else will you find such humour and unique personality – someone who puts his friends above all else.”
In the wake of the death of Kirsty Boden, 28, the Australian nurse who ran on to the bridge to help victims who had been hit by the terrorists’ van, nurses have been told not automatically to run into danger.
The Royal College of Nursing issued guidance to all its members for unexpected incidents following the attack.
The guidance reiterates to nurses that they should not always rely on their “first instinct” to go and help others.
“It is essential that you first assess your environment and ensure it is safe for you. If it is not, you should move to a place of safety,” it states.
It adds that there is “no expectation” that a nurse or midwife should put their own safety at risk.
The other fatalities of the attack were Canadian charity worker Chrissy Archibald, 30, and Australian nanny Sara Zelenak, 21, whose mother heard of her death while flying to the UK in the hope of finding her.