On London Bridge they ran. But as the dead and injured lay scattered and people fled for their lives, the bravest of the brave were not escaping the danger: they were running towards it.
An Australian nurse, armed with only her courage and instinct to help others, dashed on to the bridge to help the wounded — and paid the price when she was stabbed to death.
Yesterday Kirsty Boden, 28, was the third person to be named among the dead after Saturday night’s attack. She was one of many who selflessly put themselves in danger’s way. More details have emerged of how a small group of British Transport police officers took on the terrorists with only their batons to protect them.
Even after one was stabbed in the eye, his courage did not desert him. As he sat on the ground, blood streaming from his wound, he had only one thought: that his colleagues should pursue the attackers.
“He is a fighter,” said a fellow officer.
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In a tribute to Ms Boden, her family described her as “loved and adored by her family, friends and boyfriend”. Colleagues at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital in central London described her as “one in a million”.
A keen traveller, she called herself “just your average dreamer, with a full-time job and a constant longing to go where I haven’t been”.
Her family said: “She was the most outgoing, kind and generous person, who loved to help people. Helping people was what she loved to do in her job as a nurse and in her daily life.
“As she ran towards danger, in an effort to help people on the bridge, Kirsty sadly lost her life. We are so proud of Kirsty’s brave actions which demonstrate how selfless, caring and heroic she was, not only on that night, but throughout all of her life. Kirsty, we love you and we will miss you dearly.”
Dame Eileen Sills, the chief nurse at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, said that staff were being offered support after losing “a dear friend and colleague”. She said: “Kirsty was an outstanding nurse and a hugely valued member of the staff team in theatres recovery . . . who always went the extra mile for the patients in her care.”
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Jane Cummings, the chief nursing officer for England, said: “The people responsible for this heinous act showed a callous and indiscriminate disregard for human life. In contrast, Kirsty truly epitomised the values of nursing, of public service and the compassion we associate with the NHS.”
As the Duchess of Cornwall put it when she visited the injured at the Royal London Hospital with Prince Charles, the response of emergency workers and the public showed “Britain at its best”.
The courage of the officers who arrived first on the bridge emerged as the royals met first responders at the Met’s special operations room in south London. Constable Leon McLeod, 29, of British Transport Police, said that when he and his colleague arrived on the scene “we thought we were going to a fight”. But as they started treating the wounded on the bridge “the naughty guys came back”, he said, and the officers started fighting the terrorists. “Unfortunately all I had was my baton,” he said. “That was actually the first time I have had to use it.”
It was during that confrontation that the unnamed officer was stabbed in the eye. By the time PC Alfred Iswa, 51, got there the injured officer was lying on the ground. “I could see blood was coming out of his face, near the eye,” he said.
As PC McLeod chased the attackers PC Iswa stayed behind looking after the injured officer. “I was trying to help him and he pointed his baton towards the attacker and said, ‘Get him.’ Even when injured he was trying to fight,” he said.
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PC McLeod, who joined the force at the same time as the injured officer, who has not been named, added: “It has become clear he is a fighter. He is a big guy. I was happy to have him by my side.”
One of the first officers on the bridge was Constable Liam Dolphin, of City of London police, who tried to save Christine Archibald, as she lay dying on the bridge. PC Dolphin, 30, said that when he arrived he found people trying to help the 30-year-old Canadian charity worker who had been hit by the van on the bridge. “I was giving her CPR,” he said. “I left her when the medics came.”
Later he saw Tyler Ferguson, her fiancé, among walking wounded. “I found him on the other end of the bridge. He was quite distressed. He told me she had been pronounced dead. I was just hugging him for a while. He had a bit of a difficult time,” he said.
Dead or missing
The official death toll is seven, five of whom had been identified last night. Three people were being counted as missing. One explanation for the extra missing person may be that a victim was thrown into the Thames and a body has not been found.
The five understood to have died are:
Christine Archibald, 30, a Canadian charity worker;
James McMullan, 32, a British entrepreneur;
Kirsty Boden, 28, an Australian nurse;
Alexandre Pigeard, 27, a French waiter;
Sebastien Belanger, 36, a French chef
The three missing are:
Xavier Thomas, 45, a French tourist who may have fallen off the bridge;
Sara Zelenak, 21, an Australian nanny;
Ignacio Echeverria, 39, a Spanish employee of HSBC
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