Updated at 1.30am
THE FAMILIES OF the victims who died and were injured in the London Bridge attack have been paying tribute to their loved ones.
The first publicly named victim of the attack is Canadian citizen Christine Archibald, who was fatally injured after being hit by a white truck.
On Saturday night, a white van struck a number of pedestrians on London Bridge before the vehicle to Borough Market where its occupants got out and stabbed a number of people. Police responded and fatally shot the three people.
Seven people have been killed and 48 people injured in the attack which has been claimed by the Islamic State. 21 people’s condition has been described as ‘critical’.
Chrissy Archibald
Chrissy Archibald, a 30-year-old Canadian woman, died in her fiancé Tyler Ferguson’s arms after being hit by the van on London Bridge.
“My baby brother lost the love of his life on the London Bridge,” Cassie Ferguson Rowe wrote on Facebook.
In a split second his entire life was ripped away from him. Hearing his painful sobs on the phone while he’s alone trying to deal with this tears me apart.
Her family in Castlegar, British Columbia, says Archibald “would have had no understanding of the callous cruelty that caused her death.”
They asked those who want to honour her to volunteer their time or donate to a homeless shelter and to tell them “Chrissy sent you”.
French bistro worker
A Frenchman was killed in the attack, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. The man has not yet been formally named by officials or his family.
He had family links in the Brittany port town of Saint-Malo on the northwest French coast but was not from the town himself, local mayor Claude Renoult told AFP.
Local newspapers said the man lived in London and worked in Boro Bistro, a Breton-run restaurant in Borough Market.
Flags in Saint-Malo are flying at half-mast.
Le Drian said that in addition seven French nationals were taken to hospital, four of whom were in a critical condition, while another French national was unaccounted for.
‘Heroic’ officer
An off-duty, unarmed London police officer who was having a drink after work rushed to help but is now in hospital in a serious condition, London police chief Cressida Dick said.
“Without hesitation, wearing his normal clothes, he dived in and tried to assist and I’m afraid was severely injured but utterly heroic,” she told the BBC.
A uniformed British Transport Police officer was one of the first on the scene after responding to calls for help from the public.
He was stabbed in the face, head and leg and taken to hospital but his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.
A further two London police officers were wounded: a plain clothes officer received stitches to a head injury and a uniformed officer sustained an arm injury.
Business editor and martial artist
Geoff Ho, a business editor at the Sunday Express newspaper, was outside the Southwark Tavern pub. He tried to help a bouncer who was being attacked but was stabbed in the throat himself.
Ho, who’s a martial artist, was wearing his British Lions shirt after watching the rugby match on television and was filmed being led away from the scene by a policeman, clutching his neck and with his shirt off.
Sunday Express editor Martin Townsend said: “We are all hoping and praying for a speedy recovery.”
Australia and New Zealand
Oliver Dowling, 32, from Christchurch in New Zealand, was stabbed in the face, neck and stomach and his girlfriend was also injured, newspaper reports said.
He was put into a coma for four hours of surgery.
“This is heartbreaking, Get well soon Oliver and Marie,” his sister Freddy Dowling said on Facebook, referring also to his girlfriend.
Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says up to four Australians are victims – and says that two Australians who were both stabbed in the neck are recovering.
‘Unable to speak’
Australian Candice Hedge is also among the wounded, her mother told CNN yesterday.
Hedge was stabbed in the neck and is unable to speak, her mother Kimberley Del Toro said.
I was able to Skype with her and she gave me the thumbs up. Thank God no major artery was cut.
“It could have been much worse,” she said, adding that Candice’s boyfriend is at her bedside.
An unnamed civilian was wounded by police gunfire during the attack, according to the Metropolitan Police, but described the injuries as “not critical in nature”.
Public vigil
The city of London is convening a public vigil for the seven people killed in the van and knife attack on London Bridge and at nearby restaurants.
A statement from Mayor Sadiq Khan’s office said the vigil will be held at 6pm today at Potters Fields Park, an open space which surrounds City Hall on the River Thames near Tower Bridge.
The mayor’s office says the gathering is an opportunity for Londoners and visitors “to come together in solidarity to remember those who have lost their lives in Saturday’s attack, to express sympathy with their families and loved ones and to show the world that we stand united in the face of those who seek to harm us and our way of life.”
Participants also will be invited to place flowers by the flagpoles outside City Hall.
The invitation issued by Khan’s office says the vigil also is meant to show “We will never let these cowards win and we will never be cowed by terrorism.”
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