UPDATED: 3 confirmed bomb blasts in Boston. 2 near finish line of Marathon. 1 at JFK library. At least 2 dead & 23 injured. Listen to Boston FD live.
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4:50 PM:
According to Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis there was a third explosion at the JFK library. No unexploded devices found. Relatives looking for victims can call 617 635 4500. Witnesses should call 800 494 TIPS.
4:32 PM:
Boston Police Department have scheduled a press conference at 4:45 PM at the Westin Hotel. Boston Police also looking for video of the finish line.
News reports indicate there were other possible unexploded devices that the police bomb squad handled. CBS reports one unexploded device handled by bomb squad. Bombs were in trash cans.
4:07 PM:
Official word from Boston Police Department Twitter feed at 4:07 PM is that two people have died and 23 are injured after two bomb blasts at the finish line of the Boston Marathon a few seconds apart.
Boston PD began Tweeting on this at 3:40 PM about 50 minutes after the explosions occurred. Below are the intitial tweets.
AP:
Boston police say there’s been a third explosion in the city, following two blasts near the finish line of the Boston Marathon that killed two people and injured many others.
Police Commissioner Edward Davis says authorities aren’t certain that the explosion at the JFK Library was related to the other blasts, but they’re treating them as if they are.
David says there are no injuries stemming from the third explosion.
He urged people to stay indoors and not congregate in large groups.
The Boston Marathon said that bombs caused the two explosions and that organizers were working with authorities to determine what happened. The Boston Police Department said two people were killed and 23 others injured.
Competitors and race volunteers were crying as they fled the chaos. Bloody spectators were being carried to the medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners. Authorities went onto the course to carry away the injured while stragglers in the 26.2-mile race were rerouted away from the smoking site.
Roupen Bastajian, a 35-year-old state trooper from Greenville, R.I., had just finished the race when they put the heat blanket wrap on him and he heard the first blast.
“I started running toward the blast. And there were people all over the floor,” he said. “We started grabbing tourniquets and started tying legs. A lot of people amputated. … At least 25 to 30 people have at least one leg missing, or an ankle missing, or two legs missing.”
A Boston police officer was wheeled from the course with a leg injury that was bleeding.
There are a lot of people down,” said one man, whose bib No. 17528 identified him as Frank Deruyter of North Carolina. He was not injured, but marathon workers were carrying one woman, who did not appear to be a runner, to the medical area as blood gushed from her leg.
Smoke rose from the blasts, fluttering through the national flags lining the route of the world’s oldest and most prestigious marathon. TV helicopter footage showed blood staining the pavement in the popular shopping and tourist area known as the Back Bay.
“There are people who are really, really bloody,” said Laura McLean, a runner from Toronto, who was in the medical tent being treated for dehydration when she was pulled out to make room for victims of the explosions. “They were pulling them into the medical tent.”
Cherie Falgoust was waiting for her husband, who was running the race.
“I was expecting my husband any minute,” she said. “I don’t know what this building is … it just blew. Just a big bomb, a loud boom, and then glass everywhere. Something hit my head. I don’t know what it was. I just ducked.”
Runners who had not finished the race were diverted straight down Commonwealth Avenue and into a family meeting area, according to an emergency plan that had been in place.
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