Andrew Roussos told Sky News he believed “100%” that his “fighter” daughter Safi-Rose would have survived had the emergency response not been inadequate. Saffie was the latest victim of the atrocity in which 22 innocent people were killed in a suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017. Image: Saffie-Rose Roussos was the youngest victim of the Manchester Arena bombing An inquest looking into the emergency response to the attack found that “significant aspects… went wrong” and one victim, John Atkinson, would likely have survived but for these “inadequacy”. The report also found there was a “remote possibility” that Saffie could have survived had she received “different treatment and care”. Responding to the report, Mr Roussos said: “We had to fight for this. For the last two years we have been struggling. “We know Saffie as a person – she would do anything to stay alive, and she did.
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“She was alive almost an hour after the explosion. He was talking, drinking water, understanding what was happening. “Safi did everything she could to survive, but she didn’t have that chance to survive. “A human spirit goes a long way in this. And Saffie hung in there as best she could for a chance at survival. “And we believe 100% that if he had that chance, he would have survived.” “He would fight to the end” Asked if he accepted the apologies of the emergency services, he replied: “No, I don’t accept apologies. “You know, what I expect is for them to be honest and hold their hands up, especially throughout the investigation, and admit the failures because without admitting the failures, how can you change for the future? “Now I’ve heard over the last two years, excuse after excuse, that that night went well – but it didn’t go well.” Asked if she thought Saffie would have survived if the emergency response had been better, she replied: “100% … because she’s a fighter like her mum. She would have fought until the end.” Mr Roussos had previously described the emergency response as “disgraceful” and “inadequate”, with some experts telling the inquest that Shafi could have survived if the response had been different. However, Sir John Saunders, chairman of the Manchester Arena inquiry, concluded that “there was only a remote possibility that he would have survived with different treatment and care”. “According to the evidence I have received, what happened to Safi-Rose Roussos represents a terrible burden of injury,” he said. “It is highly likely that her death would have been inevitable even if the most comprehensive and advanced medical treatment had been initiated immediately after the injury.” What happened to Shafi? The inquest heard that Saffie had received Ariana Grande concert tickets as a Christmas present and was ecstatic to be going to see her ‘idol’. She was holding her mother’s hand at the end of the concert when they entered an area known as the City Room where Salman Abedi detonated his bomb. Saffie was about five meters from Abedi when the bomb was detonated. She stayed in the City Room for 26 minutes, during which she drifted in and out of consciousness, but managed to give her name to an audience member who helped her. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 4:29 Arena bombing victims ‘disappointed’ Just before 11pm, police officers and two members of the public placed Saffie in a promotional vault used as a makeshift stretcher. She was still conscious as she was carried from the City Room, down the stairs, through a tunnel and onto Trinity Way where an ambulance arrived just after 11pm. Five minutes later, Saffie was placed in the ambulance and her level of consciousness was “fluctuating”, the inquest heard. For the next 11 minutes, Saffie received emergency care in the back of the ambulance and at one stage, spoke briefly. The ambulance left Trinity Way for the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital at 11.17pm – 46 minutes after the bomb went off – and the journey took six minutes. Saffie was treated by a trauma team in the hospital’s recovery room and went into cardiac arrest at around 11.26pm. She was given CPR but pronounced dead at 11.40pm. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 1:55 Manchester Arena victims ‘badly disappointed’ Saffie’s death was a ‘complex issue’ The chairman of the inquest said he accepted expert evidence that Saffie’s death was caused by multiple injuries sustained in the blast. But he added that whether those injuries made Saffie’s death “inevitable” was a “complex issue”. There was “considerable disagreement” among experts about the cause of Saffie’s death, Sir John said. Some experts “ultimately thought there was no chance” Saffie would have survived “no matter what treatment she received,” he said. Others argued that survival “was not impossible with the best treatment,” he added. A post-mortem examination on Saffie found 69 external injuries in addition to internal injuries, including injuries to her lungs and liver and internal bleeding. A panel of blast wave experts, using the post-mortem report, photographs and an electronic scan, found that Saffie had suffered a total of 103 injuries and said: “Graphically, this can be described as equivalent to the energy of more than 15 pistol bullets.” Read more: How emergency crews responded to arena bombings Security failures that led to Manchester attack Sir John said that while he accepted the blast wave expert team were right about the nature and extent of Saffie’s injuries, he added: “I don’t think the evidence allows me to say she had absolutely no chance of survival. Comprehensive and advanced medical treatment had begun immediately after the injury. “I cannot rule out the remote possibility that Saffie-Rose Roussos would have survived, despite the severity of her injuries, had she been treated immediately by an experienced consultant in pre-hospital emergency medicine, followed by rapid evacuation to hospital and specialist treatment there . . “I make it clear that what I assume is a remote possibility of survival. “According to the evidence I have received, what happened to Saffie-Rose Roussos represents a terrible burden of injury. It is very likely that her death would have been inevitable even if the most comprehensive and advanced medical treatment had been initiated immediately after the injury.” Saffie’s parents ‘push for answers’ Lawyers representing Saffie’s family said “the damning report reveals what the families have known all along, that all the organizations intended to protect their loved ones have failed on a massive and unfathomable scale.” Nicola Brook, solicitor from Broudie Jackson Canter, said: “Saffie’s parents Andrew and Lisa have been pushing for answers about what happened to their beautiful daughter for five and a half incredibly traumatic years. “Having initially believed that the explosion had killed Safi instantly, the pain of this loss was compounded by learning that she had lived for over an hour.” In a joint press conference following the report, Greater Manchester Police, British Transport Police, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and the North West Ambulance Service apologized for their response to the bombing. GMP Chief Constable Stephen Watson said the “failures of the force were significant” on the night of the attack. “We failed to plan effectively and the execution of what was planned was simply not good enough,” he said. “Our actions were grossly inadequate and fell short of what the public has every right to expect, and for that, I apologize unreservedly.”
