he was said to be on his phone, smiling as he crossed the floor and detonated his bomb. in total, abedi was in and around the arena complex for two hours and one minute before the explosion. he waited in the foyer for 58 minutes before detonation. how could he be in plain sight for so long? why did nobody in authority stop him? people bereaved and hurt by this want the enquiry to answer those questions. i don t know how close i was to death on the night. i lost a lot of blood. maybe it is good that i have got no memories of it. 0k, and look.
you can see abedi arriving at the train station next door. then he goes to the toilets and he is still lugging his heavy bag around. this is where you can see him in the lift. he seems to be fiddling with the wires of his bomb here. it is chilling to watch it so clearly, the images are so clear. you can see him so well. i just sort of want to reach through the screen and stop him. this was the route abedi took on his final walk down into the crowd.
the bombing, salman abedi should have been identified as a threat, the report blames british transport police, the operators of the arena and also a security firm. also the newest daily rise of covid cases in months. nearly 11,000 if actions were reported yesterday. a lot in cornwall, was it the g7 summit or holiday makers? and in full voice, the big game between england and scotland tomorrow, but police say that only those with tickets should be travelling. now as we ve been hearing, the inquiry into the manchester arena bombing has criticised security, and said actions could have been taken which would probably have meant that fewer people died. in a special programme the manchester arena inquiry: security in the spotlight the bbc sjudith moritz looks at the failings that enabled salman abedi to carry out his attack.
chris wylde went to find a police officer, but there were none. so he told one of the stewards and assumed that something would be done to investigate. i was telling him not to worry, i will look into it and i will report it. the steward was mohammed agha, who was manning these fire doors. he did not seem that interested. it was as if he had more important things to deal with, but in no way do i blame him. he did tell a colleague, kyle lawler. they both looked at abedi. he was watching us watching him. kyle lawler says he tried to radio for help, but couldn t get through. he walked off, seemingly unconcerned six minutes later. the bomb exploded.
an hour before the concert ended, whilst the audience were still inside the arena, here is abedi walking in. he goes straight to the stairs and up to a hiding place he had checked out before, out of sight on this balcony in a cctv blind spot. the enquiry heard that members of the public did notice him. i thought, suicide bomber, straightaway. with very little doubt in my mind. honestly, my heart was racing. but only one of them, a dad collecting his daughter stopped to challenge abedi. i asked him what he was doing there and did he know how bad it looks him sitting there out of sight of everybody? first, he said he was waiting for somebody and then he just kept asking after everything i said, he just kept asking what the time was.