The home secretary has said she will “carefully consider” recommendations from a damning report into the emergency response on the night of the Manchester Arena bombing, which killed 22 people in 2017. The chairman of the inquiry into the Manchester Arena terror attack, Sir John Saunders, said that "significant aspects of the emergency response went wrong" on the night of May 22.
Care worker John Atkinson, 28, who died after suffering a cardiac arrest just over an hour after the explosion, could have survived his injuries, today's report found. Sir John said: "Had he received the care and treatment he should have, it is likely he would have survived. It is likely that inadequacies in the emergency response prevented his survival.”
The home secretary, Suella Braverman, issued a statement shortly after the report was published, in which she said she would consider recommendations in the report to "strengthen our response".
Ms Braverman, who is currently on a visit to the overcrowded Manston migrant centre in Kent, said in a statement on Twitter: “This report is a devastating reminder of the Manchester Arena attack and the horror of that night when 22 lives were lost, while countless others were changed forever. I’m thinking of them, the people who loved them, and everyone still affected by this appalling event.
“Without doubt, our emergency services show incredible courage when responding to incidents of this magnitude. It’s right that we reflect and work together to learn from this tragedy. I will carefully consider the recommendations made so far to strengthen our response.
“Thank you to the Chair of the Inquiry, Sir John Saunders, for his ongoing work to examine the attack. Anyone affected today, or by another terrorist attack, can always contact Victim Support for free. You are not alone.”
Speaking outside Manchester Hall, Sir John told a press conference that he hopes the findings of the inquiry will ensure that "the things that went wrong will never be repeated". He said the home secretary shared his hope, adding: "I hope that we can work together to achieve that aim. I am confident that all the rescue services are also determined that this should never happen.”
The report found that Inspector Dale Sexton, who was the force duty officer for Greater Manchester Police on the night of the attack, “quickly became overburdened by the number of tasks he had to undertake” when the bomb went off at around 10.30pm. Sir John said: “This had a direct impact on the effectiveness of the emergency response. It affected who received information, what resources were made available and the decisions of other commanders.”
Inspector Sexton declared Operation Plato – a pre-arranged plan for a suspected marauding terrorist – but he “overlooked” telling other emergency services, he said. Emergency services chose their own rendezvous points rather than agreeing on one location, Sir John added.
Fire crews took more than two hours to even attend the incident after station manager Andy Berry chose to mobilise resources three miles from the Arena amid fears over safety, Sir John said, while North West Ambulance Service operational commander Dan Smith made an “error” in not sending enough ambulances directly to the scene.
Just after midnight there were still 36 casualties waiting to go to hospital, with the last casualty departing at 02.50am on May 23, the report found. GMP had also failed to declare a major incident until just before 1am, some two-and-a-half hours after the blast.
Today's report is the second to come out of the ongoing arena inquiry. Sir John’s first report on security issues at the venue was issued last June and highlighted a string of “missed opportunities” to identify Salman Abedi as a threat. The third and final report will focus on the radicalisation of Abedi, what the intelligence services and counter-terrorism police knew and if they could have prevented the attack.
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