A West Yorkshire teenager seen in a photograph which captured the horror of the Manchester terror attack has spoken for the first time.
Brave Bradford teenager Eve Senior, 14, was photographed being assisted by police officers through the street with ripped jeans and bloodied legs as she left the Ariana Grande concert.
But it wasn’t until after she had been treated for multiple shrapnel wounds, cuts and nerve damage and released from hospital that she learnt her image had been captured and appeared on newspapers around the world.
“When it happened I had no idea my picture had gone everywhere,” Eve said.
“It didn’t feel like a big deal because I didn’t even know what had happened until I got out of hospital.
“In those 10 days it had been on the news and in all the papers - I just had absolutely no idea.
“I now know that on the first night it was all over Facebook.
“At first I dyed my hair because I didn’t want people to recognise me.
“If you look at the photo I had blonde hair and you can see it has blood in it. I looked down it was all red.
“After that I wanted to dye it because it made me cringe.
“At first I didn’t want to be remembered as that girl who was in all the newspapers. Now when I think about that photo it’s not a big deal.”
Eve, had travelled to Manchester to watch Ariana Grande with mum Natalie, 39, and younger sister Emilia, 12, after being given the tickets as a Christmas present.
But after enjoying the concert, and conscious of their journey back to Yorkshire, they decided to leave the concert five minutes early to avoid traffic. As they walked through the foyer, Natalie and Eve were thrown forward by the force of the blast.
Eve, said: “I remember being thrown really far forward.
“Everything was pitch black apart from the lights flickering behind me.
“At first I thought my legs were on fire, but it was just my jeans. A woman came up behind me and kind of pulled me up and said ‘we need to get out’.
“At first it was absolutely silent in the foyer, or it seemed that way. It wasn’t until we got outside people started screaming and shouting.
“We were walking out across the bridge. My sister had already ran out because she had jumped straight back up, but my mum was just behind me.
“In my head I thought my legs were fine, but when we got to the stairs I realised I couldn’t get down them.
“I ended up just sliding down the banister. It wasn’t until a police officer took me outside I saw all the blood on my legs.”
Mum Natalie also suffered seven shrapnel wounds to her legs. Emilia’s injuries were not as serious, but she witnessed the traumatic aftermath of the blast.
The Senior family have since spent the last three months coming to terms with what happened and have found supported from specially-trained staff at Victim Support invaluable. They are also fundraising for the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
