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Forklift truck driver cradled dying bomb victim Saffie, 8, and told her, ‘You’ll be OK’

A forklift truck driver has told of the moment he held dying Saffie Rose Roussos, 8, in his arms as she cried out for her mother.

Paul Reid, 42, ran back into the venue when he heard the blast at Manchester arena – and wrapped Saffie in his coat.

She later died in hospital from her injuries – the youngest of the 22 victims of the attack.

Reid said, ‘She was a dying little girl and she just wanted her mum. It was devastating.

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‘I just tried to reassure her, then one of the paramedics came.

‘I was stroking her face and saying, ‘Come on stay awake. You’re going to be all right. They are coming to take you away in a minute.’

“I took my coat off and put it over her but she was still shaking a bit.’

Reid said that he was among the first to dial 999 after the attack.

He told The Sun, ‘People were shouting, running and screaming. I will never forget the sounds. Inside the hall was absolute chaos. There were people lying all over the place.

‘I looked at my phone, it was 10.32. I dialed 999 and was telling the woman, ‘Just send everything and anybody to the Manchester Arena, a big thing has happened’. I must have been one of the first callers because it was seconds after the bomb went off.

‘There were people dead everywhere and people running in a panic towards the train station.’

Foto de Saffie Rose Roussos/vía Yahoo UK
Foto de Saffie Rose Roussos/vía Yahoo UK