THE TWO BOMBS that struck the Boston Marathon on 15 April 2013 stunned the world.
At 2.49pm, the first bomb exploded at the race’s finish line. Tucked inside a pressure-cooker device, it shattered the triumphant atmosphere at the line, killed three people and wounded more than 260 others.
What should have been a day of celebration and success, where people pushed their bodies to their limits, became one of fear and mourning.
Runners lost limbs; supporters lost their lives as they knew them.
These photographs show parts of Boston immediately after the bombings, and today, as the city prepares to mark the tragic event one year on.
Readers might find some images disturbing
April 15, 2013 and April 14, 2014: Medical workers aiding injured people along Boylston Street, then pedestrians walking along the same sidewalk almost a year later.
April 15, 2013 and April 14, 2014: Medical workers aiding injured people on Boylston Street near the finish line, and nearly a year later traffic flowing on the same street.
April 15, 2013 and April 10, 2014: Boylston Street in front of the Forum restaurant, where the second of two bombs exploded, and pedestrians walking past the same spot almost a year later.
April 15, 2013 and April 10, 2014: A view of Boylston Street in front of the Marathon Sports store, left, the site where the first of two bombs exploded, and pedestrians walking along the same sidewalk almost a year later.
April 15, 2013 and April 10, 2014: Boylston Street with people on the ground after the first of two bombs exploded, then pedestrians walking along the same sidewalk almost a year later in Boston
May 7, 2013 and April 10, 2014: Kevin Brown placing a Teddy bear at a makeshift memorial in Copley Square, and people walking through the same square nearly a year later.
April 19, 2013 and April 9, 2014: Police going door-to-door as they searched for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Watertown, and a child walking past the same home almost a year later.
April 19, 2013 and April 9, 2014: Law enforcement authorities searching for suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Watertown, and a view of the same street almost a year later.
April 16, 2013 and April 9, 2014: A runner passing a police officer the morning after the two bomb blasts, and traffic on that street almost a year later.
April 15, 2013 and April 2, 2014: A police officer clearing Boylston Street following the bomb blast, and pedestrians crossing at the same corner nearly a year later in Boston
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say