Manchester Arena Inquiry: Sergeant's frustration over lack of medics

A sergeant who tended to the injured in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing has told of his desperation and frustration at the lack of paramedics.

Greater Manchester Police Sgt Kam Hare was in charge of a team of officers who entered the City Room 25 minutes after the attack, which killed 22 people.

An inquiry has heard how only three paramedics treated casualties in the foyer where the bomb exploded.

Sgt Hare said there were injured people "who didn't have anyone with them".

"I wouldn't say there were lots of people there, but the people who were there, everyone was doing something," he told the public inquiry into the attack.

Twenty-two people were killed and hundreds more injured when Salman Abedi detonated a bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on 22 May 2017.

After entering the City Room, Sgt Hare said he and his fellow officers were becoming increasingly concerned that paramedics were not coming in to help.

"Minutes were going by, there were people there with lots of injuries. We needed paramedics with expertise and better equipment there as quickly as possible," he said.

The inquiry was told "cleaning cloths or sponges" were used as improvised bandages.

Sgt Hare spoke to the casualties to reassure them and was recorded on his body-worn camera saying to one person: "We're getting ambulances and medics to you… just hang in there."

Minutes later he was heard using an expletive and saying to a police officer that they "need the... medics".

At one stage an officer told him: "They've [paramedics] just turned up but they're dealing with the ones outside."

The inquiry heard Sgt Hare and his team only had a small first aid box containing "a few bandages and plasters" when they ran into Victoria Station.

He said he had only received basic first-aid training, which did not include putting on tourniquets or triaging patients.

When asked whether the emergency services worked well together in the City Room in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, Sgt Hare said: "Those who were in the room were trying their best to communicate and doing whatever we could there."

He said he knew there were risks to him and his team from a secondary device but he said this risk was outweighed by the need to help those who were injured.

Sgt Hare also told the hearing that "no training could have prepared us for what happened".

The inquiry continues.

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