‘I can’t watch them die’: Doctor begged to be let out of restaurant to help London Bridge victims

A junior doctor begged to be let out of a restaurant during the London Bridge terror attack, telling staff: “I can’t watch them die.”

Dr Jonathan Moses, who had four months’ experience on an A&E ward, graduated a year-and-a-half before terrorists struck on 3 June 2017.

He told an inquest how he tried to save Ignacio Echeverria, 39, who died fighting one of the terrorists with his skateboard.

Dr Moses was having dinner at Lobos restaurant when he heard a commotion and people screaming “oh God, help…they’ve been stabbed”.

He looked out the window and saw two people lying on the pavement.

He told his friend he was going outside to help and spoke with a member of staff.

Becoming emotional during the inquest hearing, Dr Moses said: “I said ‘you have to let me out I’m a doctor’, I said ‘I can’t watch them die – lock the door after’… I went outside to help.”

Dr Moses said a woman had her arms outstretched, trying to move, and screaming.

He saw another person up against a wall, holding themselves, and had to make a quick decision.

He decided to go to the woman first because she was showing signs of life.

He introduced himself to Marie Bondeville, who survived the attack, and told her he was a doctor.

She was too distressed to respond to any questions and had lacerations and stab wounds to her chest, neck and face, he said.

“I remember thinking that the wounds looked very deliberate… she kept saying she was going to die,” he told the inquest.

“I held her hand. I told her, ‘You are not going to die. I’m going to save you. You are going to be OK’,” he said.

Several police officers then went over to them, at which point Dr Moses went to the aid of Mr Echeverria, after seeing a man performing ineffective chest compressions.

He told the man he needed to take over CPR, and did so until police arrived with a defibrillator.

Dr Moses let the machine assess the rhythm and it didn’t advise a shock, so he continued compressions and felt Mr Echeverria’s ribs crack, but there was no response.

He told the hearing there was nothing that could have been done with an unshockable rhythm registering on the defibrillator.

Eventually, a police officer arrived and told him the area wasn’t safe, then assisted in placing Mr Echeverria on a stretcher, which they took across to the north side of the bridge, and he continued chest compressions as they ran across.

On the north side of the bridge, Dr Moses saw air ambulance doctor Chris Lambert.

Dr Lambert advised one more round of CPR on Mr Echeverria then to move on to other people who needed help.

There was no response, and Mr Echeverria’s time of death was recorded at 10.58pm.

Christine Archibald, 30, James McMullan, 32, Alexandre Pigeard, 26, Sebastien Belanger, 36, Kirsty Boden, 28, Sara Zelenak, 21, Xavier Thomas, 45, and Ignacio Echeverria, 39, all died in the attack.

The three terrorists behind the atrocity were shot dead by police.

(c) Sky News 2019: ‘I can’t watch them die’: Doctor begged to be let out of restaurant to help London Bridge victims