Bomb victim's family tells government to '˜open its eyes'

Manchester bombing victim Georgina Callander's family has warned the Government to 'open its eyes' to the terror threat - or more parents could lose children.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th May 2017, 10:16 BST
Updated 4th Jun 2017, 21:40 BST
Georgina Callander, who died in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack. PAGeorgina Callander, who died in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack. PA
Georgina Callander, who died in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack. PA

The 18-year-old was killed in the blast shortly after her favourite artist Ariana Grande left the stage at the Manchester Arena on Monday.

In a statement released through Greater Manchester Police, her family said the teenager’s life had been cut short by “evil, evil men prepared to ruin lives and destroy families”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It added: “I wish I could say that Georgina is one of the last to die in this way but unless our Government opens its eyes we know we are only another in a long line of parents on a list that continues to grow.”

Miss Callander, from Tarleton, was in her second year of studying health and social care at Runshaw College in Leyland.

She was “loving life”, having recently passed her driving test, was “doing great” in her exams and had been accepted into Edge Hill University, the family said.

The family’s statement said: “Her life was taken away after 18 short years by evil, evil men prepared to ruin lives and destroy families, for what?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Georgina was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside, with a smile that was never ending.

“She always had big hugs for everyone and her life was blooming like the flowers she loved.”

The family paid tribute to the “wonderful police and rescue services” and thanked the public, saying the “hugs, love and kind words” from the public had “a profound effect” on them.

Lesley Callander found her daughter on a stretcher as paramedics fought to save her life in the aftermath of the explosion.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She described her desperate efforts to bring comfort to the teenager’s final moments to ITV news on Saturday.

“I was just screaming and shouting at her. I was rubbing her hands, I was rubbing her tummy, I was rubbing her face,” she said.

“I don’t know what was running through her mind.

“It was just a flicker of hope that she’d move her hand or move her leg or try and open her eyes a little, just to acknowledge that I was there, just to let me know that she was very, very poorly but she knew that I was there.”

The young music fan previously met Grande and posted a picture of the pair together on social media.

“She kept texting me telling me her tummy was turning over,” her mother said.

“She was so, so excited.”