Shropshire Star

Government urged to ‘open its eyes’ by parents of Manchester attack victim

Georgina Callander was killed in the bomb blast on Monday night.

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Manchester bombing victim Georgina Callander’s family has warned the Government to “open its eyes” to the terror threat – or more parents could lose children.

The 18-year-old was killed in the blast shortly after her favourite artist Ariana Grande left the stage at the Manchester Arena on Monday.

In a statement released through Greater Manchester Police, her family said the teenager’s life had been cut short by “evil, evil men prepared to ruin lives and destroy families”.

Screengrab from the gofundme page set up in memory of Georgina Callander, left, who has died as a result of injuries sustained in an explosion at the Manchester Arena where she had been attending a concert by Ariana Grande, right
Screengrab from the gofundme page set up in memory of Georgina Callander, left, who has died as a result of injuries sustained in an explosion at the Manchester Arena where she had been attending a concert by Ariana Grande, right (Gareth Fuller/PA)

It added: “I wish I could say that Georgina is one of the last to die in this way but unless our Government opens its eyes we know we are only another in a long line of parents on a list that continues to grow.”

Twenty-two people were killed and more than 100 injured when suicide attacker Salman Abedi detonated a device packed with shrapnel in the venue’s foyer.

Miss Callander, from Chorley, was in her second year of studying health and social care at Runshaw College in Leyland, Lancashire.

Georgina Callander
(Family handout/PA)

She was “loving life”, having recently passed her driving test, was “doing great” in her exams and had been accepted into Edge Hill University, the family said.

The family’s statement said: “Her life was taken away after 18 short years by evil, evil men prepared to ruin lives and destroy families, for what?

“Georgina was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside, with a smile that was never ending.

“She always had big hugs for everyone and her life was blooming like the flowers she loved.”

Georgina Callander
(Family handout/PA)

The family paid tribute to the “wonderful police and rescue services” and thanked the public, saying the “hugs, love and kind words” from the public had “a profound effect” on them.

Lesley Callander found her daughter on a stretcher as paramedics fought to save her life in the aftermath of the explosion.

She described her desperate efforts to bring comfort to the teenager’s final moments to ITV news on Saturday.

“I don’t know what was running through her mind.

“It was just a flicker of hope that she’d move her hand or move her leg or try and open her eyes a little, just to acknowledge that I was there, just to let me know that she was very, very poorly but she knew that I was there.”

Georgina Callander
(Family handout/PA)

The young music fan previously met Grande and posted a picture of the pair together on social media.

“She kept texting me telling me her tummy was turning over,” her mother said.

“She was so, so excited.”

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