Three dead and 140 injured in the explosions of the Boston Marathon

At least three people died and other 140 were injured on Monday in two explosions on the line of arrival of the Boston Marathon. The detonations occurred in the center of town and left in hospitals dozens of amputees and injured in critical condition. One of the three dead is an eight year old boy, according to police sources cited by the 'Boston Globe'.

 

 

The White House explained that authorities are still investigating what happened, but stressed that security forces are treating the double explosion as "a terrorist attack." President Barack Obama avoided that expression during his first appearance three hours after the massacre.

 

It is the first attack in a US city since the 11-S. In these 11 years and seven months, several aborted attempts have been recorded by the security forces. The closest thing to an attack was the shooting in a barracks in November of 2009, when Nidal Hasan, commander of the US Army and psychiatrist of Palestinian origin and extremist ideas, shot dead 13 colleagues at the military base in Fort Hood (Texas). ). Congress continues to try to classify the attack as an "attack", but the Administration says that it would harm the trial against Hasan.

 

The Boston police chief, Ed Davis, confirmed that the two detonations occurred at the 14.50 (20.50 hour on the Peninsula) less than 100 meters away from each other and very close to the finish line. The explosions occurred when they had just completed the four hours of racing and thousands of athletes walked the last meters before the end. The agents found five other suspicious objects and they came to think that a fire in the Presidential Library of John F. Kennedy was related to the attacks in the marathon. The first explosion occurred in front of an optician on the corner of Boylston and Exeter streets. Ten seconds later, another device exploded on the corner of Fairfield Street, in front of a Statbucks and a few meters away from the finish line.

 

The double explosion surprised many runners about to cross the finish line or celebrating that they had successfully completed their first marathon. Among those who had just arrived was Nicola Gifford, a waitress from Maui (Hawaii) who ran her Boston 47 for the first time. "I thought the buildings were going to collapse"Gifford explained a few minutes after the outbreak to a reporter from the 'Boston Globe'.

 

Mechanic Mike Smith, the explosion caught him next to the field hospital near the finish line and said he will never forget what he saw: "I was stunned, it was as if someone had fired a cannon. I did not realize until I saw people mutilated and covered in blood. "

 

At the time of the explosions, the elite athletes had already finished the race. But hundreds of amateur runners were not finished and most of them could not reach the finish line. 23.000 people participated in the event, of which 4.500 did not finish the marathon.

 

Boston is the oldest marathon in the United States and this year celebrated its 117 edition. They were enrolled in the Spanish 91 test, among them Alfonso de Borbón, pretender to the throne of France and son of Carmen Martínez Bordiu. Among the Spaniards was also Santiago Sanz, who won among those who ran in a wheelchair and who during the attack was "in the hotel where the awards ceremony was to be held," he explained to ELMUNDO.es a few minutes after the event. double explosion.

 

In the area was also the Spanish scientist César Nombela, who lives in Boston and was in a bar located in a shopping center. "When the explosion occurred, people started running down the corridors to the emergency exit and panic broke out in the bar, the waiters left and we all left behind, many shoppers came out and we saw many people crying," he said. Nombela to ELMUNDO.es.

 

Hundreds of police stopped the race and evacuated the runners and to those who witnessed the last mile of the marathon. One mile that the organizers had dedicated to the victims of the Newtown massacre. The relatives of the murdered children were sitting in one of the stands next to the finish line and were again witnesses of the horror.

 

The police evicted several hotels in the area to find several suspicious objects. But not the hotel Charlesmark, whose owner Mark Hagopian told the local media that at first he believed that the explosion was the result of a pyrotechnic explosion. "The runners began to take off their T-shirts to make tourniquets to the wounded." There was blood all over the lobby, "said Hagopian, who said that his yard was full of people screaming and crying in a building that was only a few meters away. place of the explosion.

 

Among the survivors is former Marine Roupen Bastajian, of 35 years and who saved his speed. If I had run at the same pace as in the 2011 marathon, I would have been among the victims of the double explosion. But this time he improved his personal record and managed to reach the goal before the first explosion occurred. "I saw runners who had just finished and no longer had legs.There were so many people without legs and so much blood. There were bones and fragments everywhere. It was disgusting, "the former Marine said to the New York Times, who said he had put up to seven turnstiles on the legs of other injured runners around him.

 

Those who know the capital of Massachusetts remember that the marathon usually gathers half a million people in the streets. Among other things because the so-called Patriots Day is celebrated, which commemorates the first battles of the War of Independence.

 

Amid the confusion and fear of chain attacks, the airport and the airspace of the city remained closed for most of the afternoon. The police recommended avoiding agglomerations until the situation was "controlled".

 

President Obama did not use the word "attack" in his first appearance. But he pointed to terrorism by saying that "responsible individuals or groups will feel the weight of justice." Vice President Joe Biden was the first to speak of "bombs" about five hours before the FBI took over the investigation.

 

Federal authorities also deployed anti-terrorist units around hotels and tourist sites in other large cities. The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, announced that the city has mobilized a thousand agents in different parts of the city.

 

The authorities released two telephone numbers on Monday. First (+16176354500) is available to those who have not yet found their relatives. To the second (+18002255324) they should call those who can provide any clue about the author of the massacre.

Source: .elmundo.es