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A harrowing 999 call to the police by a member of the public while “treating and comforting” a victim of the Manchester Arena bombing jeopardized the public inquiry into the atrocity.
Ronald Blake, who had gone looking for his daughter at the Ariana Grande concert, urgently says that ‘many’ were injured.
Mr. Blake, it was said in the investigation, remained with victim John Atkinson, a stranger to him, for just under an hour until paramedics took over.
Sadly, Atkinson lost his life, one of the 22 victims of the May 2017 attack.
Paul Greaney QC, an attorney for the investigation, said Blake made the call at 10:31 p.m. on May 22, 2017, seconds after the bomb was detonated.
Mr. Blake described Mr. Atkinson as “really hurt, with blood pumping from his leg.”
About five minutes of his call to 999 were played into the investigation.
Mr Blake is heard saying “there is an explosion at the Manchester Arena … in the lobby”.
He is asked if there were any injured people and he answers: “Loads.”
The phone is then handed over to someone else, who then drops the call to help others.
The phone is returned to Blake, who can be heard speaking and comforting the injured parties, including Atkinson, who was 28 years old.
He tells the operator that he himself was not injured, but that “he is with a man who is really injured.”
“His leg is pumping,” says Blake, referring to Atkinson.
He is told to press and tie something around Mr. Atkinson’s leg.
The audio evidence was revealed Tuesday on the second day of the investigation, which highlighted the response of emergency services.
Mr. Greaney QC said: “The information was provided within seconds of the explosion … and that what was unfolding was a mass casualty incident.”
But the investigation heard that only three paramedics entered the City Room area at night.
Greaney said that at 11.11pm, 40 minutes after the detonation, only one paramedic had been present in the city hall, despite others being in the vicinity of Manchester Arena and the train station.
The first paramedic was there in 19 minutes.
He said the investigation would examine whether the Northwest Ambulance Service “performed its duties adequately,” as it would other emergency services that attended.
Greaney said Atkinson was evacuated from the blast site just 46 minutes after suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated his homemade shrapnel bomb.
LISTEN: 999 call between Sergeant BTP and the control room
Video not available
He was taken on a makeshift stretcher to a sorting area at Victoria Station, which is part of the arena site, and he stayed there for another 24 minutes.
Mr. Greaney said: “The question of John Atkinson’s survival is, as we will explore, an important question for the investigation to consider.”
The investigation also heard that only one stretcher was used during the rescue operation, and that the injured were removed on barriers, makeshift stretchers or transported.
The Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service arrived at the scene two hours and six minutes after the bomb went off, according to the investigation.
First responders, meanwhile, rushed to the scene of the bombing “barely a minute” after the explosion detonated, the public inquiry was reported.
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They “showed the best of humanity” and acted “selflessly and without regard for the danger they themselves might be in,” said Mr. Greaney.
A British Transport Police (BTP) officer, who rushed to the scene of the blast in the City Room area, later said that he “could only describe it as a war zone there.”
“There were several victims on the floor, blood everywhere and the whole place was full of smoke and, in my words, it was a massacre,” said Jessica Bullough, the first officer on the scene, in a statement read in the investigation by Mr. Greaney.
“There were nuts and bolts scattered everywhere.”
The investigation will examine the response of emergency services and their preparation for a terrorist attack like the Manchester bomb, among many other topics.
There was confusion as to who was in command by the British Transport Police, the investigation was told.
Mr. Greaney said that experts found that there was no communication integration between BTP and GMP officers overnight.
BTP, he said, declared a major incident, but did not report it to GMP.
But Mr. Greaney said: “It is important that we recognize the pressure that those who responded to the attack in the Arena suffered.
“It must have been huge.
“Who of us, who was not there, and is not forced to make critical decisions in the throes of the moment, can understand how that felt.
“This process must understand that and our investigation should not be used to vilify those who did their best tonight but made mistakes or who could have done better.”
“What we have to do is investigate deeply but precisely the emergency response that night.
“If there were errors or failures, it will be necessary to reveal them, not because it is our purpose to criticize, but so that the grieving families know the truth and learn real lessons.”
The investigation was told that Greater Manchester police “did not know at an organizational level of the Ariana Grande concert” and “had not made any provisions or plans for the concert that night.”
Mr Greaney said: “On May 22, 2017, the understanding between both organizations (British Transport Police and GMP) … was that BTP had primacy in relation to any property over which they have jurisdiction.
“And because BTP has jurisdiction in the City Room by this agreement, the primacy rests with BTP and as such, BTP had the responsibility to lead the surveillance of that area, that is, the City Room.
“The issue of primacy is important.
“Therefore, there must be a legitimate question as to whether it was appropriate and / or whether it provided the best protection to the public that it was the specialized railway police, namely BTP, who took the initiative of all the events that took place in the Sand, rather than the local force, namely GMP.
“To take a single consequence that BTP had primacy GMP did not know at the organizational level of the Ariana Grande concert and had not made any arrangement or plan for the concert that night.
“At first glance, that may seem surprising and serves to emphasize why this issue, the issue of primacy, requires research.”
Mr. Greaney referenced the Winchester Accord exercise, conducted at the Trafford Center in May 2016.
It was a simulated terrorist attack with firearms.
But, he said, experts have “expressed serious concerns about whether lessons were learned from it.”
The investigation takes place at Manchester Magistrates Court in front of retired High Court Judge Sir John Saunders.
It is scheduled to run through spring next year.
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