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British Cypriot killed at Ariana Grande concert could have survived – report

Saffie Rose Roussos

The death of the youngest victim from the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing attack – British Cypriot, Saffie Rose Roussos – could have been prevented, it was reported on Monday.

Saffie, aged only eight, might have survived if she had received better first aid, a report commissioned by her family suggests.

She died after sustaining injuries to her legs which led to heavy blood loss – while basic tourniquets or splints were not used and as such, no pressure was applied, and the bleeding was not reduced.

The lawyers representing Saffie’s parents commissioned different experts to examine the incident. According to their report, Saffie might have survived.

Andrew Roussos, Saffie’s father who was born in Cyprus, told the BBC: “She could have been saved.”

The report details that Saffie did not instantly die in the explosion as her parents had previously thought, and instead lived for over an hour and was conscious.

As she was being taken to hospital by an ambulance, Saffie asked a paramedic: “am I going to die?”

Her family previously thought that Saffie died at the point where the bomb exploded, on the floor of the arena.

Instead, the report – based on witness statements, CCTV footage and body-worn cameras – details that several people attempted to help Saffie but nobody used a tourniquet or applied splints.

Notably, neither the ambulance crew or the hospital’s medical team used these methods to try and lessen Saffie’s bleeding.

Twenty-two people were killed and hundreds were injured when Salman Ramadan Abedi, an Islamic extremist, detonated a shrapnel-laden homemade bomb at an Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017.

Saffie attended the concert that night with her mother, Lisa, and older sister Ashlee Bromwich.

The flags of the Cypriot High Commission building in London were flown at half mast after her death.

In a statement made in 2017, Chris Upton, the headteacher at Tarleton Community Primary school, where the eight-year-old was a pupil, said: “Saffie was simply a beautiful little girl in every aspect of the word. She was loved by everyone and her warmth and kindness will be remembered fondly. Saffie was quiet and unassuming with a creative flair.”

 

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