Romanian tourist who fell into Thames dies
LONDON: A 31-year-old Romanian tourist who was knocked into the Thames river from the Westminster Bridge during an attack on Britain’s Houses of Parliament last month has died, London police said on Friday.
Andreea Cristea was rescued from the Thames after the attack, in which a man identified as Khalid Masood drove a rented SUV into pedestrians on the bridge and then fatally stabbed a police officer at the Houses of Parliament, before he was shot dead by other officers.
Her boyfriend Andrei Burnaz suffered a broken foot in the attack.
“After fighting for her life for over two weeks, our beloved and irreplaceable Andreea — wonderful daughter, sister, partner, dedicated friend and the most unique and life-loving person you can imagine — was cruelly and brutally ripped away from our lives in the most heartless and spiritless way,” her family said in a statement.
Police said she had been receiving extensive treatment in the hospital since the attack but that life support was withdrawn on Thursday afternoon.
Footage taken at the time showed Cristea falling into the river during the attack. Witnesses saw her lying face down in the Thames before she was rescued and rushed to an emergency room for emergency surgery after being diagnosed with a blood clot on the brain.