Homeless Heroes Of Terror Attack
Two homeless men have been hailed as heroes after they rushed to help those caught up in the horrific terror attack at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.
Chris Parker, 33, cradled a dying woman and wrapped a bloodied child in merchandise T-shirts while Stephen Jones described in harrowing detail how he had to pull nails from a little girl’s face.
Chris was in the foyer of the arena – where he regularly goes to beg for money as the crowd leave – when the bomb went off. He said he was knocked to the floor by the blast but immediately got back up and began trying to help the wounded.
He said: “Everyone was piling out, all happy and everything else. As people were coming out of the glass doors I heard a bang and within a split second I saw a white flash, then smoke and then I heard screaming. It knocked me to the floor and then I got up and instead of running away my gut instinct was to run back and try and help. There was people lying on the floor everywhere. I saw a little girl … she had no legs. I wrapped her in one of the merchandise T-shirts and I said ‘where is your mum and daddy?’ She said ‘my dad is at work, my mum is up there’.”
Rough sleeper Steve also rushed to help young victims following the explosion at the Manchester Arena. He told ITV News: “Just because I am homeless, it doesn’t mean that I haven’t got a heart and I’m not human still. They needed the help, I’d like to think that someone would come and help me if I needed help. It’s just instinct to go and help … it was a lot of children with blood all over them, crying and screaming.”
He added: “We [had] to pull nails out of their arms and a couple out of this little girl’s face. It had to be done, you had to help. If I didn’t help I wouldn’t be able to live with myself for walking away and leaving kids like that.”
David Sullivan, the owner of West Ham football club, was so moved by Steve’s actions that he has stepped in to help him. Mr Sullivan told BBC Radio 5 Live he wants to help the ‘hero’ by paying for his accommodation for six months and some money to help him turn his life around.
“It looks like he needs some help, so we are desperate to find who he is and give him six months free accommodation and a little bit of money to help him on his way,” he said.
