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Eyewitnesses describe scenes of unimaginable horror as Boston Marathon bomb blasts injure more than 100 (Graphic)

By C. J. Refsland on April 15, 2013 • ( 1 )

Eyewitnesses have described scenes of unimaginable horror after two bomb explosions at the Boston Marathon finish line today, as medical staff scrambled to help the injured and others rushed to set up makeshift morgues for the dead.

Two huge explosions occurred seconds apart at 2.50pm and emergency vehicles swarmed the area.

Witnesses described horrifying scenes of bloody spectators being carried from the scene, as others reported seeing piles of bodies with missing limbs and shrapnel wounds.

Two people have died, including an eight-year-old child. Eight people are in critical condition, four have undergone leg amputations and 110 – including eight children – have reportedly been injured.

‘Somebody’s leg flew by my head,’ spectator John Ross told the Boston Herald. ‘I gave my belt to stop the blood.’

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Emergency response: Medical workers aid injured people at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following an explosion in Boston on Monday afternoon. Police and fire services swarmed the scene

Pained: Medical workers transport away a blood-covered man minutes after the two explosions

Impact: A runner, knocked to the ground by the blast, lies by police officers running to the scene

Chaos: The injured are helped at the scene, with hundreds of spectators flee the area

Competitors and race organizers were crying as they fled the chaos. A man was pictured with his lower leg blown off, while children were seen being wheeled away in chairs with burned limbs.

Blood and broken glass was strewn across the sidewalks, while a emergency worker was seen checking the pulses of young women lying on the ground.

A trauma nurse told ABC that the race’s medical tent has become a makeshift morgue and that staff are dealing with injuries including severed limbs, shrapnel wounds and children with severe burns.

There were reports that a three-year-old child was injured and taken to hospital, while Adidas, which is a sponsor of the marathon, said it is still trying to figure out if all of its workers are safe.

David Abel, a reporter for the Boston Globe who was standing just feet from the finish line to record runners, recounted the scene of horror he witnessed.

‘I saw just a pile of bodies,’ he said. ‘It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life… mangled limbs, people not breathing. Within minutes, police, medical staff, marathon staff [arrived] and were just trying to carry people off as quickly as possible.’

Rushed away: Medical staff respond to the scene and transport injured spectators to hospitals

Struggle: A woman is comforted by a man near a triage tent set up for the Boston Marathon

Chaos: Eyewitnesses described seeing scores of people without limbs and bleeding being carried away

First responded: Eyewitnesses described people being carried away soaked in blood and missing limbs

Control: Every single one of Boston’s 2,100 police officers has been called to work following the explosions

‘THERE WAS A COLLECTIVE SCREAM THAT WENT ON AND ON…’

Jeff Chin, 27, who was a block from the explosion, spoke to People magazine about the horror he witnessed:

‘People started screaming. I saw a guy with his shirt off, and it was wrapped around his hand and it was soaked red with blood…

‘What you don’t see on TV is how loud it was after the fact. Imagine there were hundreds of people just screaming at the top of their lungs, screaming so loud. It was like a sustained scream, collective scream and it went on and on. It was piercing, just the terror that you could hear…

‘It was a nightmare, the worst thing you can imagine…

‘It was like every sense of mine was heightened, I was feeling and seeing and hearing everything. I never want to go through anything like it again, it was terrifying…’

He said he was not aware of any security concerns ahead of the events, adding: ‘There was a massive security presence.’

Beck Dangler, who was on a fifth-floor patio overlooking the finish line, told NBC News that when the explosions went off, he saw a plume of smoke ‘and then the immediate scatter’.

‘You could smell it,’ he said. ‘It smelled like a giant firecracker… Then there was immediate pandemonium.’

A doctor in a medical tent around 150 yards from one of the explosions told ABC News he immediately ran to the scene.

‘We all went running over there and started to bring people into the medical tent,’ he said. ‘It was not good. Very bad. Like a war zone. 9/11 immediately came to mind.’

NBCSN reported that some marathon runners who crossed finish line continued to run to Mass General Hospital to give blood.

ABC reporter Josh Elliott tweeted that the emergency room at Massachusetts General hospital said they have carried out multiple amputations, with the number of patients as high as 25.

Every one of the 2,100 Boston police officers in the city were ordered to respond to the scene, and Boston police chief Ed Davis said FBI and state police were also sending personnel.

Aid: Emergency personnel respond to an injured woman after two explosions went off today

Suffering: A man who appears in severe pain is rushed away from the scene for aid

Fears: Young women who were hit in the explosions are rushed away on stretchers

Lucky escape: A man hit by the blast walks away from the scene with shredded pants

Steven Saurbier, who saw the explosion’s aftermath from his window, described the swift police response after he witnessed the scene from his apartment.

‘Police swarmed immediately,’ he said. ‘They removed one or two people after patting them down. There were a lot of injured people… I estimate 20 people were medically transported… I saw a woman being carried by two men and I am almost positive her left leg was blown off at the knee.’

Of the police officers in the city, around 1,000 would have working on the event already, Bratton said, with a concentrated police presence around the finish line and the area behind it.

At a press conference on Monday afternoon, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis described the moments following the explosions and said the FBI and state police immediately sent resources.

‘All of the victims have been moved from the scene we have sent officers to hospitals to be in touch with family members and possible witnesses,’ he said.

Suffering: A man is loaded into an ambulance after he was injured by one of two bombs at the finish line

Sadness: An unidentified Boston Marathon runner leaves the course crying near Copley Square

Screams: Medical workers aid an injured woman. Scores are believed to have been hurt, and two killed

Overwhelmed: People comfort each other after the explosions, which killed two people on Monday

Moments after: Smoke billows from near the finish line after the bomb was detonated, inflicting tragedy

Destruction: A view of the finish line shows the debris strewn across the road after the explosions

‘Every asset of the commonwealth of Massachusetts and the federal government is either here or coming here,’ he added.

CBS reported that Rep. Bill Keating confirmed there were two unexploded devices found – one at a hotel in Copley Square and another at an undisclosed location, possibly beneath bleachers.

In an interview with ABC, former police chief Bill Bratton said that as well as the chaos from the injuries, ‘you have the compounding factor of dealing with unidentified packages’.

He said he expected police to be receiving numerous calls from concerned residents, as there were reports that as many as three hotels were being evacuated as a precaution.

ABC News reported that there were at least three reported packages, with one controlled explosion having been carried out.

‘You have to investigate them all,’ he said. ‘That’s the reality. [There’s a] heightened sense of awareness. [Police] are guaranteed to be getting some calls on public transportation. Every one of these things will be have to be looked at.’