4.20 AM Friday, 29 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:56 06:10 12:26 15:53 18:37 19:52
29 March 2024

Two blasts rock Boston Marathon, at least 2 killed, 23 injured

Published
By Reuters

Two explosions hit the Boston Marathon as runners crossed the finish line on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring 23 on a day when tens of thousands of people pack the streets to watch one of the world's best known marathons.

Boston police also reported another explosion at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, which is three miles from the marathon's finishing line.

"We are not certain that these incidents are related, but we are treating them as if they are," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told a news conference.

Boston police said two people were killed and 23 injured in the explosions on the marathon scene.

Two high-level US law enforcement officials said one or more bombs were responsible for the explosions.

"It sounded like a sonic boom. I haven't stopped shaking yet," said Melissa Stanley, who watched her daughter cross the finish line four minutes before the explosions.

A fireball rose from behind spectators and a row of flags, video posted on the New York Post website showed. Other pictures showed blood stains on the ground and several people knocked down.

Massachusetts General Hospital was treating 19 victims of the explosion in its emergency room, six of them in critical condition, a spokeswoman said.

Witnesses said two explosions hit as spectators were cheering on people finishing the Boston Marathon, which was first run in 1897.

Reporters in the media centre heard two blasts.

Mike Mitchell of Vancouver, Canada, a runner who had finished the race, said he was looking back at the finish line and saw a "massive explosion."

Smoke rose 50 feet (15 metres) in the air, Mitchell said. People began running and screaming after hearing the noise, Mitchell said.

"Everybody freaked out," Mitchell said.

Ambulances, fire trucks and dozens of police vehicles converged at the finish line.

US President Barack Obama was notified and directed his administration to provide whatever assistance was necessary, the White House said. Obama was being briefed by Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco and other staff, the White House said.

Authorities tightened security in Washington and New York.

"Blood everywhere, victims carried out on stretchers. I saw someone lose their leg, people are crying," the Boston Globe's Steve Silva reported from the scene, the Globe said on Twitter.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators typically line the 26.2 mile (42.19 km) race course, with the heaviest crowds near the finish line. The blasts occurred more than five hours after the start of the race, at a time when most top athletes were off the course but slower amateur marathoners were still running.

The transit agency shut down all service to the area, citing police activity.

Ambulances arrived on the scene within minutes and runners and spectators could be seen crying and consoling each other.

The Boston Marathon has been held on Patriots Day, the third Monday of April, since 1897. The event, which starts in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and ends Boston's Copley Square, attracts an estimated half-million spectators and some 20,000 participants every year.

Earlier on Monday, Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa and Kenya's Rita Jeptoo won the men's and women's events, continuing African runners' dominance in the sport.

The results underlined both the strength and rivalry of those two nations' running programs, said Kenyan runner Wesley Korir, who finished fifth.

"It was more of a tactical race, the Ethiopians versus the Kenyans," said Korir, who won the 2012 Boston Marathon. "Those guys were not fighting for time or anything, they were just racing to beat each other."

Desisa finished in an official two hours, 10 minutes and 22 seconds, besting countryman Gebregziabher Gebremariam and Kenya's Micah Kogo in a finishing sprint.

Jeptoo closed up in an official two hours, 26 minutes and 25 seconds, crossing the finish line more than 30 seconds ahead of her nearest challenger, Meseret Hailu of Ethiopia.

Americans took fourth place in both races, with Jason Hartmann and Shalane Flanagan finishing just off the podium. No American has won since Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach in 1985.

Hartmann, who also placed fourth in last year's race, took an early lead before being reeled in by a large pack of runners at the halfway mark.

After that he held back and did not try to match every move of the leaders, he said.

"The last five miles is where you can determine whether you run good or not," Hartmann said.

At 23 years old, Desisa is a relative newcomer to the sport, though earlier this year he won the Dubai marathon in a time almost six minutes faster than Monday's pace, which stands as his personal best.

Jeptoo, Hailu and third place women's finisher Sharon Cherup of Kenya ran a carefully paced race, holding back for most of the 26.2 miles as first Colombia's Yolanda Caballero and later Portugal's Ana Dulce Felix took early leads.

Felix pushed as far as 90 seconds ahead of most of the top women before Jeptoo and other chasers ran her down in the 24th mile of the 117th running of the race.

Jeptoo's victory marked her second win at Boston. Her first came in 2006 - a race she almost missed the start of due to passport problems.