The Manchester bombing in Britain last May saw some emergency response services being delayed from reaching the bloody scene for more than two hours, all while casualties lay injured on the ground desperately waiting for assistance, a review of the terror attack found.
Two fire crews were stationed near the arena when suspected suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated the blast that killed 22 people and wounded over 100 others at Manchester Arena on May 22, The Guardian reported.
However, instead of immediately responding to the attack, the fire crews were sent to a rendezvous several miles away, and then only arriving at the arena hours after the bomb was detonated.
When they did get there, communication errors between police officers in charge and the ambulance services further delayed the fire crew from getting closer to the scene and providing assistance, despite being fully trained to handle emergency situations.
In the review, former civil servant Lord Bob Kerslake criticized then-chief officer Peter O’Reilly for his role in the delays and concluded that additional fault lay in “poor communication and poor procedures” within the fire service, The Manchester Evening News reported.
Vodafone phone company also came under fire. The company was responsible for emergency post-disaster hotlines, but a “catastrophic” technical failure that night meant no fully functioning number was set up to call by people desperately searching for information on the attack.
Chaos ensued as relatives drove to various hospitals in search of loved ones.
Lord Kerslake praised the overall response to the attack but noted that it was “vital to learn the lessons around things that did not go so well,” The Daily Mail reported.
“It matters not just for the people of Greater Manchester and beyond who were caught up in the terrible events of that night, but also for places that might be caught up in such an attack in the future.”
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