Three persons, including an eight-year-old boy, died as a result of bomb explosions during the Boston Marathon, said Ed Davis, spokesman for the Boston Police Department. Overall 144 more were injured. Doctors say that 17 of them are in a critical state.
Even though the explosions caused chaos and panic, the American government reacted immediately. Cell phone connection was shut down in order to prevent terrorists from detonating other bombs. Even though the athletes could not call their families and tell they were okay, this seemed to be a justified measure. Security measures were intensified in other American cities, including New York and Washington DC. The US president spoke to the nation a few hours after the terrorist attack.
The unharmed people helped the injured ones, using their belts as tourniquets. After conducting the corresponding tests, medics ruled out any radiological or biological contamination in the victims. According to The Boston Globe, most of the injuries were caused by shrapnel, but it remains unknown whether the bombs were filled with nails or something else to aggravate traumas. “I removed pieces of metal and ball bearings. The victims are from 20 to 50 years old. They were injured primarily in the lower body,” told surgeon Joseph DeAngelis to New York Daily News.
According to the police, the bombs had been set in trash bins, which were located 50 to 100 meters from each other. A bomb closer to the finishing line went off first. It can be seen in videos and photos. In 12 seconds, another trash bin exploded.
CNN informs that the police demined the third bomb, which was located not far from the marathon route. At the same time, the US Representative from Massachusetts and member of the Homeland Security Committee Bill Keating informed that two more bombs had been found. According to him, these explosions were a “subtle, coordinated, and planned attack.”
The President of the US Barack Obama spoke two hours after the incident took place. “We will find out who did this and find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice,” Obama promised. He also called for Americans to unite in the face of the tragedy. “I discussed the situation with both Congress party leaders, and we confirmed once again that in days like these there cannot be Republicans or Democrats, there are Americans who united in order to take care of our fellow citizens.” By the way, mass media immediately paid attention to the fact that Obama did not use the term “terrorist attack.” However, later he did make a statement: “Any incident with several bomb explosions is obviously an act of terrorism,” said Obama as quoted by New York Daily News.
At the moment nobody has been arrested. However, the police are looking for a “dark-skinned male” who might be related to this attack. He was noticed five minutes before the first explosion took place, when he was trying to get inside of the restricted area.
The international community reacted promptly to the Boston incident. The German chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the explosions and expressed hope that “the guilty will soon be held accountable for their crime.” “Nothing justifies such an evil attack on people who gathered for a peaceful sports event,” Merkel said.
Ukraine has also denounced explosions at the Boston Marathon. The opening of the OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum started with a moment of silence. And Ukraine’s foreign minister Leonid Kozhara said: “A sports event, initially designed to serve peace and unite people, became a place of a bloody tragedy. I condemn the terrorists, whose action caused deaths and injuries of people. All of the OSCE member states must unite their effort in a fight against terrorism.” According to him, terrorist attacks against civilians are unacceptable, and after the Boston bombing “the international community has to unite efforts in order to prevent the activity of terrorist sects. And those who organize such actions must be found and put in trial.”
By the way, Ukrainian athletes also participated in the Boston Marathon. “Six Ukrainian amateur sportsmen took part in the Boston Marathon. As far as we know, none of them was injured. We have already contacted three of them,” told The Day the president at the Ukrainian Athletics Federation Ihor HOTSUL. However, he refused to clarify who exactly they already established contact with. The Federation’s press service also informed that there are no Ukrainians among the injured. “However, this is not the final information. We sent inquiries to the MFA and the marathon organizers.”
At the same time, Andrii Onistrat posted the following message on his Facebook page: “I left the place where bombs exploded nine minutes before it happened. I was waiting for Valentyna. I realized she was done and we missed each other. This is fate!” It looks like this is about another athlete, Valentyna Khamaiko. Later, Onistrat and Khamaiko went on air of the 1+1 TV channel and said that for all they knew, none of the Ukrainian participants were harmed.
The Internet also reacted promptly to the explosions in Boston. A number of groups dedicated to the terrorist attack were created on Facebook. “Pray for Boston!”, “Respect those who died in such an unjust way” – these captions could be seen under photos of injured people. The same is going on in the popular network Twitter. People from various countries share their feelings about what happened and urge to pray. Let us too pray for those who happened to be in Boston at that unfortunate time.
The Day’s FACT FILE
The Boston Marathon is a race for athletes that takes place annually in Boston, Massachusetts, and the adjoining towns on the third Monday of April (Patriot’s Day). This year, about 20,000 athletes participated in the marathon. The theme of this year’s marathon is “26 miles – 26 victims,” a symbolic reminder of those killed during mass shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School (Newtown, Connecticut).
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The Day asked the president of the International Antiterrorism Unity Oleksandr DICHEK what the reasons of this incident could be.
“Modern history knows, and unfortunately, will know cases of terrorist attacks during sports events. Like the one in Munich in 1972, when 11 Israeli sportsmen died. Or in Donetsk, at the Shakhtar stadium in 1995, or in Afghanistan, and very recently, in Syria. That is why, despite strict security measures, these things will happen.
“There are various reasons for these incidents: political, economic, religious, social, and ethnic. What happened in Boston… first of all, we need to express sympathy to the people that were killed or injured there.
“In my opinion, there is no social or economic factor at play there. Instead, a political aspect is involved, since the terrorist attack took place on the Patriot’s Day, which people happily celebrated out in the streets. This marathon is very popular all across the world. Six Ukrainians also participated in it. That is why the key to this attack should be searched for in the political sphere. There were no terrorist attacks of such scale for 11.5 years in the United States. The terrorists (I am sure that they will surface in the near future and will be hunted down and arrested) achieved the goal they set for themselves. They aimed at doing everything to make the largest number of people possible learn about this incident and have it covered by mass media to spread fear. Because fear became a commodity. This incident became known not only in Boston or the United States, but in all countries on all continents. The terrorists’ task is to create a maximum response within society, make people talk and worry about it. A lot develop phobias after such incidents. Remember how people were afraid of flying after terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001? They were afraid to use subway after some attacks took place there. So, psychological fear is created.
“I hope that mass media, political and cultural figures will give a proper answer to these horrible displays of extremism and terrorism.”
What is your assessment of the response and actions of the US government following the attack?
“If such an attack happened, it cannot be said that the preceding actions were correct and complete. But the ones in the wake of the bombing, for example, evacuation and first aid (from what we read in the papers) were carried out very efficiently. People were evacuated, the marathon hotel and headquarters were closed down.”
To what degree is Ukraine ready to withstand and cope with such incidents?
“Ukraine has already demonstrated to the international community how big sports events should be organized. I mean the final part of Euro-2012. There were a lot of skeptics who said: ‘Anything can happen in Ukraine!’ And as Sol Campbell [British football player. – Ed.] said, ‘If you go to Ukraine, you could end up coming back in a coffin.’ But they were ashamed when Ukraine demonstrated a high level of event organization, first of all concerning security measures. This means that both the authorities and society did an excellent job.”
