On Monday afternoon at 2:50 p.m., after 26.2 sweaty miles, triumphant runners crossed the finish line of the 117th annual Boston Marathon, just as two blasts ripped apart the sidelines of the race. With at least three dead and more than a hundred injured, the city saw the pleasant afternoon turn into a nightmare of severed limbs and blood-splattered sidewalks.
Emergency personnel aid the injured on the sidewalk at the scene of the first explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty)
As always, where there’s tragedy, heroes emerge. As the dust from the explosion cleared, runners and observers from all walks of life mobilized. Both trained and untrained, hundreds rushed toward the scene of the explosion site to tend to the injured. Marathoners tore off their shirts to use as tourniquets on victims. A first responder pushed a wheelchair-bound woman to safety and then returned to the carnage. The U.S. Army retweeted a picture captured from television of two fatigue-clad soldiers who had just finished the race and appeared to be running straight into the explosion site. Legendary Patriots guard Joe Andruzzi was spotted carrying a woman to safety after the blast. Peace activist Carlos Arredondo was identified as the cowboy hat-clad volunteer pinching the artery of a legless man in a wheelchair, thought to be a Newtown commemorative runner, in a widely spread photo. In five hospitals across Boston, medical staff braced for an onslaught and emergency staff worked tirelessly amputating limbs and giving blood transfusions. Online, pictures of these heroes in action were hailed and shared as the world reacted to the graphic scenes.
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