A brave bus driver was left “covered in blood” as he tried to save the life of a 15-year-old schoolgirl who was brutally stabbed on her way to lessons this morning.
The driver was joined by a passer-by as they desperately tried to save a teenage girl’s life on the pavement on Wellesley Road in Croydon, south London.
Witnesses said the pair did all he could to save the schoolgirl as the nightmare unfolded but she later died at the scene. It’s believed an argument broke out between the girl and a boy shortly before she was stabbed in the neck with a ‘sword-like’ knife.
Witness Edison Muriqi told The Sun: “The driver tried to help her and was covered in her blood all over his shirt. Apparently the driver was trying to help her by stopping the bleeding.”
Emergency services raced to the area at around 8.30am to reports with both land and air ambulance attending but the teenage girl was pronounced dead around 50 minutes later.
Around an hour and 15 minutes after the stabbing police arrested a teenage boy in New Addington, who they said was known to the girl, in connection with her death.
A large police cordon was put in place outside the Whitgift Centre, with a red double decker bus on route 60, three police vehicles and about a dozen officers behind the police tape.
A bunch of flowers had been placed directly next to a forensic tent within the cordon. The attack is not believed to have happened on the bus.
A mother-of-two, who wanted to be named only as Bridget, said: “I was on the bus before and came off and walked back down, I saw them resuscitating her.
“The driver was holding her, and a lady. The emergency services were already here when I walked back.”
The girl who died was a pupil at Old Palace of John Whitgift School, a private girls’ school in Croydon.
The school released a statement that said: “We are deeply shocked by the senseless and tragic death of our much-loved and valued friend and pupil.”
Footage posted on social media showed several police cars and ambulance vehicles near a bus in Croydon on Wednesday morning.
Chief Superintendent Andy Brittain said: “I am in contact with the local community, who are clearly as concerned as we are about this tragic incident. I shall continue to update them throughout the day.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he was “absolutely heartbroken” at the news of the girl’s death.
A spokesman for London Ambulance Service confirmed that three ambulance crews, an incident response officer, an advanced paramedic in a car as well as the air ambulance were sent to the scene.
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Did you know the girl and would like to pay tribute? If so, email richard.ashmore@reachplc.com
