8-year-old Girl Among The Victims Of The Attack

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

An 8-year-old girl is among the 22 fatalities of Monday's attack at a concert by singer Ariana Grande in the English city of Manchester.

Saffie Rose Roussos was a student at Tarleton Elementary School. A teacher at the school, Chris Upton, described his death as "a tremendous shock."

"The idea that someone can go to a concert and not come home is devastating," the teacher said in a statement Tuesday. “Saffie was just a beautiful girl in every sense of the word. She was loved by all and her warmth and kindness will be remembered by all with pride. Saffie was quiet and modest, with a creative air.”

According to the British newspaper The Telegraph, Roussos had attended the concert in the company of his older sister Ashlee Bromwich and his mother Lisa Roussos, who were injured and are in two different hospitals. Friends of the family have shared messages on social networks requesting help to find little Saffie.

The first victim identified was 18-year-old Georgina Callander. "Georgina was an adorable girl who was very popular with her peers and staff," her school, Runshaw College, a town in Leyland, said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to Georgina's family at this terrible time, and we are especially thinking of her brothers Harry and Daniel, who were students at the school."

Photos of the young girl circulate on social networks where she appears next to Ariana Grande in a concert held two years ago. According to The Evening Standard, the young woman died in the hospital in her mother's arms.

A third identified victim is a 26-year-old boy, John Atkinson, as confirmed by The Telegraph through family and friends.

The explosion occurred at around 10:33 pm local time, when the audience that had attended the concert, including many teenagers and young people, was starting to leave Manchester Arena.

In a statement, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming that it was a response to Britain's "transgressions against Muslim lands". Accounts on pro ISIS networks had previously celebrated the attack on the media, framing it as a response to air strikes in Iraq.