This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/world/europe/manchester-bombing-victims.html

The article has changed 14 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 10 Version 11
8-Year-Old Girl Was Among the 22 Manchester Bombing Victims Insidious Twist on Terror Attack Victims: Teens and Young Girls with Mothers in Tow
(about 7 hours later)
LONDON — She was a “beautiful little girl” who was “quiet and unassuming, with a creative flair,” said the school principal of Saffie Rose Roussos, 8, one of the first identified victims of the bombing at a concert in Manchester, England. LONDON — Some of the girls had barely reached puberty. Many had come with parents in tow. At least one was only 8 years old.
Saffie, from Lancashire in northwest England, was at the Ariana Grande concert with her mother and older sister. Her death was confirmed on Tuesday by the Lancashire County Council. News reports said her mother and her sister, who is in her 20s, had been hospitalized for injuries suffered in the attack. It is not clear whether the bomber who killed 22 Ariana Grande fans, wounded 59 and incited a mass panic at her concert in the Manchester Arena on Monday night knew that his homemade device would explode among victims who were young and included many girls.
News of Saffie’s death came as a “tremendous shock,” said Chris Upton, the principal of Tarleton Community Primary School. “I would like to send our deepest condolences to all of her family and friends,” he added. “The thought that anyone could go out to a concert and not come home is heartbreaking.” But the traumatizing effects put the attack in the same category as the Beslan school siege in Russia, the Peshawar school massacre in Pakistan and the mass kidnapping of schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigeria: It grabbed the adult world’s attention in ways that some indiscriminate attacks do not.
The Manchester Evening News identified another victim, John Atkinson, a 26-year-old from Radcliffe, a town in the Manchester area. A fund-raising page was set up to help raise money for his funeral. “It’s intended to shock,” said William McCants, a senior fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution and an authority on the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the Manchester assault. “You get maximum fear by attacking a vulnerable population: kids.”
Earlier, Georgina Bethany Callander, an 18-year-old health and social care student with a big smile and a love of pop music, became the first victim of the Manchester attack to be publicly identified. Mr. McCants, the author of the 2015 book “The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State,” said that “the thing with ISIS is, it doesn’t worry about offending mass public opinion.”
Ms. Callander’s Instagram account showed a young and joyful woman who appeared to adore animals and Disney films. She had also posted a photograph of her driver’s license, which she received in December 2016. News reports said she had died with her mother at her side. Old photographs on social media showed her posing wearing glasses and braces. By Tuesday evening, the police in Manchester had publicly identified only a few of the dead. The details that were emerging about the victims reinforced what Mr. McCants and others described as the shock value craved by plotters of such attacks.
She was a student at Runshaw College in Leyland, Lancashire, where administrators expressed their “enormous sadness” and said they would offer counseling to students. “Our deepest sympathies, thoughts and prayers go out to all of Georgina’s friends, family and all of those affected by this loss,” they wrote in a statement on Facebook. Saffie Rose Roussos, 8, the youngest of the confirmed dead, was described by her school principal, Chris Upton, as a “beautiful little girl” who was “quiet and unassuming, with a creative flair.”
Ms. Callander was a fan of the British bands Fifth Harmony and One Direction. On her Instagram account, she named “Beauty and the Beast” and “Captain America” as her favorite films, and “Wicked,” which she saw in London in September 2015, as her favorite musical. Saffie, from Lancashire in northwestern England, attended the concert with her mother and older sister. News reports said both had been hospitalized for injuries.
Her social media accounts show a young and idealistic woman who was socially conscious. She had expressed her distaste for a dog meat festival in Yulin, China, and lent her support for the Women’s March on London in January. “The thought that anyone could go out to a concert and not come home is heartbreaking,” Mr. Upton said.
Born on April 1, 1999, Ms. Callander was fond of using the internet to make friends and had posted numerous photographs with people she met online, writing, “The internet is an amazing place.” The first victim to be publicly identified was Georgina Bethany Callander, an 18-year-old health and social care student known for her big smile and love of pop music.
Those stories were only the first in what is likely to be a stream of heartbreaking tales in the coming days about young people in the optimistic bloom of life. Ms. Callander’s Instagram account showed a young and joyful woman who appeared to adore animals and Disney films. She had also posted a photograph of her driver’s license, which she received in December 2016. News reports said she had died with her mother at her side. Old photographs on social media showed her wearing glasses and braces.
The bombing, which the police said had killed 22 people and wounded at least 59, took place at the end of the concert Monday night in Manchester Arena. Ms. Grande’s concerts attract legions of young female fans with their parents in tow, and the targeting of an arena hosting thousands of children and teenagers gave a particularly terrifying edge to the attack. She was a student at Runshaw College in Leyland, Lancashire, where administrators expressed “enormous sadness” and said they would offer counseling to students.
At least 12 children under the age of 16 were among the wounded hospitalized after the attack, according to the North West ambulance service, which serves the Manchester area. Ms. Callander was a fan of the bands Fifth Harmony and One Direction. On her Instagram account, she named “Beauty and the Beast” and “Captain America” as her favorite films, and “Wicked” as her favorite musical.
On Saturday, Ms. Callander had written on Twitter that she was “so excited” to see Ms. Grande, with whom she had posed for a photograph at a concert two years ago. Her social media accounts show a young and idealistic woman who had criticized a dog meat festival in Yulin, China, and supported the Women’s March on London in January.
Her friends took to social media to express their grief. “To my beautiful best friend I hope you rest in peace my darling,” one wrote on Twitter. “I love you so much and will always miss you.” The Manchester Evening News identified another victim, John Atkinson, 26, from Radcliffe, a town in the Manchester area. A fund-raising page was established for his funeral.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Manchester, said that the targeting of innocent youths had filled everyone with disgust. “We all feel a sense of abhorrence,” he said, describing the attack as “the most appalling evil” he could imagine. A fourth victim was identified late Tuesday as Kelly Brewster, 32, from Sheffield, an avid concertgoer who had attended the show with her sister, Claire Booth, 34, and Ms. Booth’s 11-year-old daughter, Hollie. Relatives said Ms. Brewster died trying to shield them from the blast. Hollie’s legs were broken, her mother’s jaw was broken, and both suffered wounds from shrapnel, including embedded bolts in their bodies, The Guardian reported.
As the authorities scrambled to identify the dead and as relatives scoured hospitals for their loved ones, one mother clasped a framed photograph of her young daughter and made a tearful appeal on BBC television for any information about her, saying she was worried sick. Dozens of others posted photographs of the missing on social media, asking for information about relatives and friends. Payton Williams, one of Ms. Brewster’s friends, who confirmed she had died, said she was “very smart, funny lady with a heart of gold.”
As the authorities scrambled to identify the dead and as relatives scoured local hospitals for their loved ones, one mother clasped a framed photograph of her young daughter and made a tearful appeal on BBC television for any information about her, saying she was worried sick. Dozens of others posted photographs of the missing on social media, asking for information about relatives and friends.
Some Polish citizens were among the missing, said Jakub Krupa, the British correspondent of the Polish Press Agency, citing the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Some Polish citizens were among the missing, said Jakub Krupa, the British correspondent of the Polish Press Agency, citing the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Blood-donation centers in Manchester said there had been a surge in volunteers. A vigil for the victims was planned in front of Manchester Town Hall for Tuesday evening. Ms. Grande, 23, an American singer, attracts legions of young female fans to her concerts, chaperoned by parents. She has also broadened her fan base by promoting lesbian and gay rights and celebrating diversity — concepts that are antithetical to the Islamic State and similar jihadist extremist groups.
Prime Minister Theresa May appealed to the public to contact the Manchester police if they had any information about the attack, noting that relatives and friends of the victims and the missing were experiencing unimaginable pain. She said the attack stood out for its cowardice. While it is possible that Ms. Grande’s particular audience may have been deliberately targeted, some terrorism experts said it was the size and youth of the audience and the vulnerability of the event that had enticed a group like the Islamic State.
Ms. Grande expressed her sorrow on Twitter. “Broken,” she wrote, “from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words.” “It was particularly attention-grabbing,” said Brian Nussbaum, a professor at the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University of Albany. “ISIS is more interested in violence for violence’s sake and the momentum that comes with that.”
Ms. Callander was a fan of the fairy-tale-themed American television series “Once Upon a Time,” and in April she met actors from the series, several of whom expressed their condolences. Others said the predominant gender of Ms. Grande’s audience may have been directly relevant for the attack plotters.
“This is beyond upsetting. Dearest, Georgina...RIP kind & beautiful lady,” Karen David, one of the actresses on the series, wrote on Twitter. “These are young girls, they haven’t started their lives, so everybody’s sitting in their homes and saying ‘my God, they went to have fun and look what they got,’” said Wagdy Loza, a psychiatry professor at Queen’s University in Ontario and former chairman of the Extremism/Terrorism section of the Canadian Psychological Association.
“The psychological impact is much, much more than killing a bunch of people in an office or workers in their 50s,” he said. “It does make more impact when you see children.”