Manchester mother woken from coma said: ‘Saffie’s gone’
THE father of the youngest person killed in the Manchester bombing has told of the moment he had to tell his wife that their eight-year-old daughter had died when she woke from her coma and said: “She’s gone, isn’t she?”
Speaking on what would have been Saffie Roussos’s ninth birthday, Andrew Roussos said he wanted to share pictures and videos of his daughter as it was her “dream to be famous”.
Saffie died of multiple injuries after the suicide bombing at the Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena on May 22. Saffie, from Leyland, Lancs, was with her sister, Ashlee, who was treated at the scene, and her mother, Lisa, who is still recovering in hospital.
Her mother was placed in an induced coma by doctors. Mr Roussos said that when she woke she knew her daughter had died, saying, “Saffie’s gone, isn’t she?”
He told the BBC’S Victoria Derbyshire that he “nodded, and that was it”. Adding: “That’s all that was said really.”
Speaking of his daughter, he said: “You couldn’t go out with Saffie without having fun…
“She was a joker,” he added. “She was a huge character. She was just everything you could wish for in a little girl...
“She loved fame, stardom. I knew that Saffie would love her pictures to be on, and to be spoken about, on TV.”