Off duty soldier on fiancee’s hen party reveals moment he ran towards London Bridge attack to help blood-soaked victims
A HERO off-duty soldier tended victims of the London Bridge terror atrocity less than 100 metres from the rampaging terrorists.
Army officer Lieutenant Pete Bryan, 28, of 29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery, raced from his fiancée’s hen do at a nearby restaurant to aid stricken victims.
He tended three in the “hot zone” while killers Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, were still stabbing innocents just yards away.
He said: “It is in-built in the Army mantra – you run into trouble and not away from it.”
Lt Bryan was celebrating at a restaurant minutes from where the Hertz hire van driven by the terror trio ploughed into London Bridge.
Without hesitation, he bolted up the road – fearing there had been a road smash – to be confronted by a street deserted “like a ghost movie”.
Flanked by two pals who were nurses, Army Commando Lt Bryan said: “We thought there had been crash so we started running towards the bridge, but when we got there we realised there was something more sinister happening.
“All of the vehicles were empty, the buses too, and there were three bodies to our right.
“I didn’t realise what was transpiring because I was focused on the casualties.
“If I had looked to the left I would have realised stabbings were taking place less than 100 metres across from me.
“I didn’t know what was unravelling before me.”
Despite the carnage, he began tending the first victim he found, who had suffered horror chest and torso wounds.
As he helped give CPR, a policeman arrived warning the terrorists were still on the loose.
He said: “We started to try and get a stretcher underneath the lady with the abdominal injuries and we moved her to the ambulances on the bridge.”
He now believes fellow off duty soldier Lt Jared Bambridge – who The Sun revealed helped 10 victims that night – was aiding the same woman.
At the time he was unaware his fellow first aider was an Army comrade.
Back at the rally point he aided even more, saying: “I was in the secure area on the bridge where I helped some more including a policeman who had a large slash on his head.
“I told people I was military and had some battlefield medical training.
“There was one man who I think had lost someone, he was fairly confused, he was crouched down in a bad emotional way, so I chatted to him.
“It was a surreal and horrendous thing to see.
“I don’t know how much I helped – I hope I helped a bit.”
Now beyond the cordon and with the emergency services fully in control, Lt Bryan tracked back to find his fiancée and family, who were still in the restaurant.
He added: “I got back to my family and they were all in very good spirits – my mum had packed a fork down her sleeve in case there were any terrorists.”
In total he aided up to six casualties as well as reassure others caught in the carnage.
He said: “I’m incredibly proud of everyone who played their part.”
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