Saffie Roussos’ birthday sees hundreds of balloons released on as mourners pay tribute to youngest victim of Manchester bomb attack
HUNDREDS of people released balloons to mark the birthday of the youngest Manchester bombing victim yesterday.
Saffie Roussos would have been nine years old on July 4, and her family refused to let the day go by unnoticed.
The crowd sang the Robbie Williams track Strong, before Saffie's favourite, Ariana Grande, was played.
We reported yesterday her mum's heartbreaking first words when she woke up in hospital after the attack were "she's gone, isn't she?".
Saffie Roussos' dad, Andrew, yesterday paid tribute to his daughter on what would have been her ninth birthday.
The youngster died of multiple injuries after suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated a home-made device at Manchester Arena on May 22.
Her father Andrew Roussos told the BBC his family had "lost everything" when Saffie was killed with 21 other victims.
He said he had been "dreading" telling his wife Saffie was dead, but when she woke from an induced coma, his wife already knew.
He told said: "She just looked at me and said 'She's gone, isn't she?' I said 'yeah'. She goes: 'I knew'."
Saffie, who was at the concert with her mother Lisa Roussos and older sister, Ashlee Bromwich from Leyland, Lancashire, was a huge fan of Ariana Grande and was "elated" to be at the concert.
He described his wife, still recovering from her injuries, as "like a soldier" fighting her way back to health.
Mr Roussos said: "We've lost everything. We have, we've lost everything, because life will just never be the same."
He said he wanted to speak out so as not to let her birthday go by unmarked - and to keep her memory alive.
He said: "We didn't want to just let her birthday pass. Saffie loved the limelight and I just wanted to celebrate Saffie's birthday through doing this."
He described arriving at the arena to find the bomb had gone off - and eventually found Ashlee being treated but couldn't find Saffie or his wife.
Finally a friend helped confirm medics at Salford Royal Hospital were taking care of his wife, but heard nothing about Saffie.
Mr Roussos hoped she might be in one of the hotels but as the hours went on he was told by police she had died.
Saffie's older sister, who described being thrown to the ground by the explosion, said of the youngster: "She was Ariana Grande-obsessed, so to see how happy she was, it was just ... Obviously I had to go with her."
She added: "She was so happy, just elated all night."
Mr Roussos said: "You couldn't be out with Saffie without having fun, but her dream was to be famous. It was her everything and we bought her the tickets for Christmas.
"She was just counting the days, the seconds and it was just Ariana Grande until nine, 10 o'clock at night. And she would sing and dance every single song."
Mr Roussos, who said "all hell broke loose" at the arena after the bomb, was later told by a police detective that Saffie had died.
The grieving dad met Ariana Grande before her One Love Manchester concert in June and told the singer what she meant to Saffie.
He said she told him she was sorry, but he told her she had nothing to apologise about after making Saffie so happy.
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