• UK
  • World
    • USA
  • Entertainment
    • Celeb
    • Showbiz
    • Magazine
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Gaming
  • Tech
  • Science
    • Education
  • Insurance
  • Business
  • Auto
  • ToS/Contact
    • ToS
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
NewsExplored
  • UK
  • World
    • USA
  • Entertainment
    • Celeb
    • Showbiz
    • Magazine
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Gaming
  • Tech
  • Science
    • Education
  • Insurance
  • Business
  • Auto
  • ToS/Contact
    • ToS
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • LinkedIn

  • Tumblr

  • RSS

UK

Manchester Arena attack: The families searching for answers

Manchester Arena attack: The families searching for answers
Newsexplored
6th September 2020
ShareTweet
SubscribeRedditGoogleWhatsappStumbleuponPinterestDiggLinkedinTumblrTelegram
Views:
2

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionLisa Roussos: ”It should be about transparency”

Lisa and Andrew Roussos say they feel as though they are stuck in May 2017.

That’s when their eight-year-old daughter Saffie was killed in the Manchester Arena bombing.

Saffie was the youngest victim of the attack.

A little girl with striking big eyes and a mane of dark hair, who loved dancing and making people laugh. Lisa and Andrew say she was a real live-wire who “never sat still”.

The pain of her loss is as great as ever.

Image copyright Roussos family

“It’s not something you get over, ever,” Lisa says.

“Every morning you wake up. It happens again. She died that day, every day.

“That’s just how it is. And we have to live with that.”

data-ad-format="auto">

Now the Roussos family and the other families bereaved that night are steeling themselves for a difficult few months.

The public inquiry into the bombing, which starts hearing evidence on Monday, will examine every aspect of the attack, including whether it could have been prevented, the emergency response and the experiences of each of the 22 people who died.

‘Complete chaos’

Saffie’s parents say they still feel too raw to hear information about her last moments.

“I don’t want to know about her injuries and what she went through,” Lisa says.

“It’s painful enough without knowing the details.”


But the couple do have a lot of other questions which they want answers to.

Andrew says the attack “could have been prevented, it could have been stopped and Saffie and the others could have been here with us”.

“And that’s what we want out of it,” he says. “To find out why there were so many wrongs.”

Referring to the way the emergency services responded to the attack, Lisa adds: “It was just complete chaos, nobody had a clue what to do, how to react.

“It was just a complete shambles. For those people that did make mistakes, the police, fire service, MI5, for them to admit their mistakes I think would be a good thing for them, as well as us.”

Saffie’s Ariana Grande ticket was a treasured Christmas present.

She went to the concert with her big sister Ashlee and their mum Lisa.

‘Like a horror movie’

Andrew came to collect them, with Saffie’s 11-year-old brother Xander and the family’s pet chihuahua Binky in tow.

By chance, a press photographer took some pictures of Andrew and Xander outside the arena, in the aftermath of the bomb.

Image copyright Joel Goodman/LNP

You can see the shock and bewilderment on their faces, Xander clutching the dog as his father searched for his wife and children.

They came across Ashlee, sitting on the pavement outside the arena.

She was bleeding but conscious, and being looked after by members of the public.

Reassured by this, Andrew carried on looking for Lisa and Saffie.

He says: “It was just like a horror movie, there were kids screaming there were kids injured on the floor.

“There were people around and they were all crying, it was just… I have no words.”

Andrew feels that the police were not in command.

“I asked every police officer that I went past,” he says.

“They just said just keep looking.

“Nobody had control of it, because nobody gave me any indication of what to do, where the injured were.

“Nobody said to me, ‘right stay here, let me make some phone calls let me get in touch with some people and see’. They just left you to just wander round.”

Andrew and Xander spent all night searching.

Image copyright Roussos family
Image caption Eight-year-old Saffie Roussos was the youngest victim of the Manchester Arena attack

They thought all of the injured had been brought out of the arena and had no idea that Lisa and Saffie were on the floor of the foyer just yards away from them.

Andrew says: “My daughter and my wife were lying on this floor. Do you know how that feels?

“I could have been with them, particularly Saffie. I could have been holding her hand, instead of a stranger. Imagine how she was feeling lying there?”

Father and son went to three hospitals before they found Lisa the next morning.

Andrew says: “They told me to prepare for the worst. If she was going to make it there was an 80-90% chance of her being paralysed from the neck down.”

Andrew was exhausted and already at rock bottom. But he still had hopes of finding Saffie alive.

He’d heard that children who were displaced at the arena were sheltering in nearby hotels. He grabbed a police officer at the hospital and pleaded again for information.

Eventually it came.

Fourteen hours after the explosion Andrew learned that Saffie was dead.

Image copyright Reuters

After multiple operations, Lisa Roussos has defied the doctors’ prediction of paralysis.

She is a gentle person with calm determination – and she rarely talks publicly about the horrors of the attack.

She tells me: “The worst thing for me was – is – if Saffie could have been saved.”

I ask her if it’s something that she plays over in her head?

“I have done, yeah,” she says. “To think that, not just Saffie, the other people. How could they leave injured people in the arena for hours? It’s just madness.

“I remember lying there thinking help will be here soon, and in the end it felt like I was lying there for hours. [I thought] ‘why is nobody coming?'”

The Roussos family also have many questions for the security service MI5.

They want to hear the detail of what was known about the bomber Salman Abedi and his brother Hashem who helped to build the bomb.

But some of the hearings involving MI5 will be held behind closed doors, without the families or their lawyers expected to be present. They’re being restricted on grounds of national security.

Lisa says: “Obviously you’re having to put your full trust in the (inquiry) chairman. But this inquiry is not about trust, it should be about transparency, and I feel that we won’t get that without having a representative in the room.”

Andrew adds: “We’ve got five or six law firms representing all the families, so let’s have one barrister from each firm in that room.

“All I hear is lessons learned, but lessons haven’t been learned, and lessons will never be learned, unless we get that transparency and honesty from the people involved to get the answers that we need.”

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Share on Skype (Opens in new window)

Related

Related Itemsanswersarenaattackfamiliesmanchestersearching
UK
6th September 2020
Newsexplored @newsexploredweb

Related Itemsanswersarenaattackfamiliesmanchestersearching

More in UK

  • Read More
    Newspaper headlines: £500 Covid payment and flood devastation

    Views:2 By BBC NewsStaff image captionThe Guardian leads on suggestions ministers are considering giving everyone who tests...

    Newsexplored 6th September 2020
  • Read More
    Covid in Scotland: More than 400 care homes investigated over deaths

    Views:2 By Andrew PickenBBC Scotland News image copyrightGetty Images A special Crown Office unit set up to...

    Newsexplored 6th September 2020
  • Read More
    Liverpool 0-1 Burnley: Ashley Barnes scores winner as Reds’ unbeaten run ends

    Views:2 Ashley Barnes scored just his second goal of the season for Burnley Liverpool’s 68-game unbeaten home...

    Newsexplored 6th September 2020
  • Read More
    Storm Christoph: Evacuations amid floods and snow

    Views:2 Published 14 minutes ago image copyrightPA Media image captionHomes near Lymm in Cheshire were among those...

    Newsexplored 6th September 2020
  • Read More
    Storm Christoph in pictures

    Views:2 Storm Christoph has swept across the UK, bringing heavy rain, flooding and snow to parts of...

    Newsexplored 6th September 2020
  • Read More
    Storm Christoph: Homes evacuated in Wales amid severe flood warning

    Views:2 image captionUp to 30 people have been forced out of their homes in Bangor-on-Dee, Wrexham Homes...

    Newsexplored 6th September 2020
  • Read More
    Newspaper headlines: ‘New dawn for America’ as Joe Biden takes over

    Views:2 By BBC NewsStaff image captionPhotographs from Joe Biden’s inauguration as the 46th US president feature across...

    Newsexplored 6th September 2020
  • Read More
    Scotland’s papers: Restrictions ‘for months’ and Trump’s exit

    Views:2 Daily Record The Herald The Scotsman The Scottish Sun The National The Times Daily Mail Daily...

    Newsexplored 6th September 2020
  • Read More
    Newspaper headlines: ‘It’s the back of Trump’ and ‘vaccine pivot’

    Views:2 By BBC NewsStaff image captionAll of Wednesday’s front pages carry a mention of Joe Biden’s inauguration...

    Newsexplored 6th September 2020
  • Read More
    Storm Christoph: Flood warnings in parts of England

    Views:2 image captionIn Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, residents have prepared their homes and businesses ahead of the...

    Newsexplored 6th September 2020
  • Read More
    Newspaper headlines: Jab complacency fears and smart motorway inquest

    Views:2 By BBC NewsStaff image captionThe Daily Telegraph says government scientific advisers are concerned millions of people...

    Newsexplored 6th September 2020
  • Read More
    Manchester Arena Inquiry: Help given to Saffie-Rose Roussos to be examined

    Views:2 image copyrightFamily handouts image captionTop row (left to right): Alison Howe, Martyn Hett, Lisa Lees, Courtney...

    Newsexplored 6th September 2020
Scroll for more
Tap
data-ad-format="auto">
NewsExplored

NewsExplored - Making sure all the latest news is explored?

Contact us for help

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • Comments

  • Trump pardons two convicted by Russia investigation
    USA23rd December 2020
  • Kieran Trippier suspended for 10 weeks over breaches of betting rules
    Sports23rd December 2020
  • The Papers: UK and EU on ‘verge’ of Brexit trade deal
    UK23rd December 2020
  • Former BBC sports reporter Kevin Gearey dies
    Entertainment23rd December 2020
  • Kamala Harris: What the vice-president did on her first day
    USA21st January 2021
  • Biden inauguration: New president to be sworn in amid Trump snub
    USA20th January 2021
  • Biden inauguration: Democrat to be sworn in as Trump leaves office
    USA20th January 2021
  • Biden inauguration rehearsal paused amid US Capitol lockdown
    USA18th January 2021
  • Les Rehrer says:

    Hello Its me :P and thanks for this post

  • optumrx login says:

    Thank For News.

  • Kent Laatsch says:

    Please let me know if you're looking for a writer…

  • Bob says:

    RT News was where I learned that Erdogan controlled isis.…

Copyright © 2018 Top News Theme. Theme by MVP Themes, powered by Wordpress.

Birling Gap danger warning over crumbling cliff edge photo
Coronavirus: Further 2,988 cases confirmed in UK
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok