As 8-year-old Saffie Roussos lay wounded and alone in the aftermath of the Manchester bombing, she found comfort in the arms of a stranger—forklift truck driver Paul Reid.
Speaking to The Sun, Reid opened up about the heartbreaking moment he found the young victim of the terror attack.
“She was a dying little girl and she just wanted her mum. It was devastating,” he recalls.
“I wanted to keep her talking and asked her if she had enjoyed the concert but then I realised she was having difficulty breathing.
“She said, ‘Where’s my mum?’ I said to her, ‘I don’t know but we are going to find her in a minute. Don’t worry. We are going to sort it out. You are going to be all right’.”
The 43-year-old man—who has first aid training—explained that Saffie’s legs were “mangled in a bad way” and she had hip and head wounds.
“The girl kept trying to fall asleep but I knew I had to keep her awake and conscious. I was stroking her face and saying, ‘Come on Sophie stay awake. You’re going to be all right. They are coming to take you away in a minute,’” he recounts.
Reid helped officers put Saffie on a makeshift stretcher.
“Once we got outside one of the police flags down an ambulance. We gently put her in and she is still alive with her eyes open. That’s the last time I saw her,” he said.
The man called the police at 4am and asked what had happened to the young girl he thought was named “Sophie” but could not glean any information. The next day, he saw photos of the young victim on the news.
“I saw the pictures and knew it was the child I called Sophie. We did our best to save her but in the end, no one could,” he recounts.
“I only knew her for a few minutes but I will never forget her.”
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ORIGINAL:
Eight-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos went with her mum Lisa and sister Ashlee to see one of her favourite performers live. The night should’ve been one of the best the young girl had ever experienced, instead, it was the end of her life.
Saffie has been confirmed dead after the suicide bombing at Ariana Grande’s Manchester Arena concert yesterday.
Her mum, Lisa, still doesn’t know about her daughter’s death, as she’s currently in a coma, fighting for her own life.
Sister, Ashlee, who’s in her 20s, was also injured in the attack and is currently being treated in hospital, The Sun reports.
“Saffie was simply a beautiful little girl in every aspect of the word,” the eight-year-old’s school principal, Chris Upton, told The Guardian.
“She was loved by everyone and her warmth and kindness will be remembered fondly.
“Saffie was quiet and unassuming with a creative flair.
“The thought that anyone could go out to a concert and not come home is heartbreaking.”
Tributes have also flooded in for John Atkinson, 26, and Georgina Callander, 18, who have also been named among the 22 people killed in the terror attack.
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