A brave British tourist has told of his efforts to comfort a young boy who was seriously injured in the Barcelona terror attacks.
Harry Athwal, from Birmingham, rushed to the aid of the young boy who was lying injured in the road after a van deliberately drove into pedestrians in the popular Las Ramblas boulevard.
Despite warnings from police to flee the area, Harry said he couldn’t leave the injured boy.
The kind-hearted dad told The Mirror: 'The police were telling me to move but I would not leave him.
He explained that the boy appeared to have a broken leg and he could not find a pulse.
"All the time I was thinking the terrorists could come back but I was not leaving that child. To me, he looked like my own”, Harry said.
Photos of Harry crouching down to tend to the young boy have been circulated throughout the media and at first glance, many assumed the child was his son, rather than a complete stranger.
Devastated Harry explained: “I put my hand on his back and I thought he had gone. I was stroking his hair and in floods of tears but I stayed with him, I sat there because I was not going to leave this child in the middle of the road”.
“He was my son’s age, seven or eight. I just ran my hands through his hair, it was about comforting him”.
The 44-year-old project manager was not even meant to visit Barcelona that week. Harry’s sister had invited him to join her on a spontaneous trip with friends.
Dad who held hand of child terror victim reveals instinct that inspired bravery https://t.co/DttH57drKI pic.twitter.com/ovdeyFF6X4
— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) August 18, 2017
When the group arrived in Barcelona, it was too early to check into their hotel and they headed for lunch.
They had contemplated eating on the pedestrianised street where the brutal attack took place but thankfully, a waiter persuaded them to try a restaurant on a first-floor balcony.
Harry and his sister were horrified to watch the attack unfold right underneath them.
“We knew straight away this was terrorism. But immediately I told the others ‘Stay where you are’ and I ran out to help”, Harry explained.
“I looked to my left and right and there were bodies strewn, and to the right there was this child in the middle of the road. I ran straight to him”.
After what felt like “ages” paramedics arrived and Harry could rejoin his sister.
They spent the next five hours sheltering in a pharmacy as police had put the area on lockdown.
Yesterday Harry and his sister attended a minute’s silence for the victims of the attack.
He still doesn’t know the fate of the boy he cared for.
They intend on staying in Barcelona until Monday as planned. “We owe it to Barcelona not to run”, Harry explained.
