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Manchester bombing paramedic: Real heroes still in hospital

Written by on 27/05/2017

One of the first paramedics to attend the Manchester bombing has insisted the "real heroes are still laying in hospital".

Dan Smith was the second emergency worker to be confronted with the carnage of the Manchester Arena terror attack on Monday night, which left 22 dead and 66 people injured.

The consultant paramedic described to Sky News the scale of the "devastation" he found at the Ariana Grande concert targeted by suicide bomber Salman Abedi.

He said: "There’s a whole range of emotions. You clearly are seeing some really, really injured and distressed people."

:: LIVE – The latest on the Manchester terror attack

But, despite being surrounded by horrific injuries, Mr Smith revealed it was only ten minutes after attending the incident – when his colleague informed him of the number of dead – that the seriousness of the attack became apparent.

Mr Smith said: "Just that one simple message of ‘I’ve got a number of fatalities’ was devastating."

He added: "It was probably not until six o’clock that morning and I finally got home and the news was on and the gravity just hit me then really of what you’d just been to."

Describing how "everyone just got on with the job", Mr Smith praised the various emergency services and Arena staff who tended to those injured.

"I’ve never seen a group of people who don’t regularly work together (…) just join together with very little in the way of needing to communicate," he said.

:: The victims of the Manchester terror attack

Although he was one of the first to witness the extent of the chaos on Monday night, Mr Smith insisted "nothing compares" to the experiences of the victims and survivors of the attack.

He said: "That outpouring of love and compassion towards us feels great and it feels amazing and it’s beautiful that the community has come together.

"But I think all of my colleagues would agree our thoughts are clearly with the victims and the real heroes are still laying in hospital beds at the moment and we’ve got to remember that."

(c) Sky News 2017: Manchester bombing paramedic: Real heroes still in hospital