Taxi driver who survived terrorist attack tells rescuer ‘Someone blew me up’

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“Someone blew me up,” the taxi driver who survived the terror attack at Liverpool Women’s Hospital reportedly told rescuers.

David Perry had his fare from Rutland Avenue in the Sefton Park area, now understood to be terrorism suspect Imad Al-Sawalim.

The 45-year-old driver was seen in CCTV footage stumbling out of the smoking car shortly before it caught fire.

Read more: Suspicious packages found at home linked to terrorist attack investigation

Counter-Terrorism Police confirmed that Al-Sawalmin had brought the “Mother of Satan” device – a homemade explosive device known as TATP – to the car with him.

The homemade bomb exploded outside the entrance to Crown Street Hospital while Perry was in the car.

Mr. Perry fell into the arms of brave security guard Darren Knowles, 50, who put his safety aside to run to his aid, Mirror Online reports.

Darren’s father hugged the injured driver in his arms and gently led him to safety.

On Wednesday he told The Mirror: “Everyone calls me a hero but at the end of the day I was just doing my job.”

Darren was on duty at Liverpool Women’s Hospital when the striker struck at 10.59am on Memorial Day.

He was standing next to his private car which was parked a few meters from the main entrance.

Darren said: “It all happened in a jiffy. I was just pumping my tires on my car.

“I saw the taxi stop, as they do, because it is outside the main entrance.

“I heard a loud bang and at first I thought it was a mechanical failure in the taxi. I thought the engine was on fire.

But then I saw the taxi driver running out. He was terrified, screaming ‘Someone blew me up’.

He was trying to tell us, ‘There’s a passenger, there’s a passenger’.

“I was trying to say to him, ‘Is he still there’ and he was saying ‘He tried to blow me, he tried to blow me.’ David was very confused and confused.”

The burning car outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital after a taxi exploded (Image: Introduction)

Darren said the driver was bleeding from a cut in his left ear and a shrapnel wound to the back of his neck, which was also bleeding profusely.

He added: “I just grabbed him and tried to get him to safety as quickly as possible because I felt like something else was going to explode.

“My first priority was to prevent the taxi driver from getting back into the car, because he had his phone and other things in it and he wanted to take them out, but I took him to the nearest nurse for medical attention.

“I didn’t think to myself I was just thinking about getting the taxi driver to safety before anything else boarded.

He was screaming in terror and saying I want my wife.

“We were just saying ‘Calm down, let’s just see you.'”

There was blood running from his left ear down the side of his face.

“He was hit by shrapnel in the back of his neck and blood was flowing.”

Aerial view of the damaged car being removed by a forensic officer after the explosion at Liverpool Women’s Hospital (Image: PA)

Darren said he got help from a nurse and that was the last he saw of them.

“I was saying, ‘Come, come with me, we’ll help you solve the problem,'” he added, and handed him over to a nurse.

“He went to the staff entrance and sat there and that was the last I saw of him.”

Darren, who works as an agency security guard, added: “He was in emotional shock to be honest.

“I was confused by what happened.

“God bless the man. I wish him a speedy recovery after what he went through.”

The security guard said he did not look at the car.

Darren added, “The first thing that came to my mind was the ‘terrorist attack’.”

“We couldn’t say the words because we didn’t want to scare people.”

Explosion of women’s hospital in Liverpool

He said he was “absolutely calm” right after the explosion, but after 30 minutes the truth of what had happened came to light.

The 50-year-old said: “My hands were trembling when I realized how close I was to the bombing.

“But you don’t think, you do.”

This was only the sixth time that Darren, who lives with his partner and two youngest children, had been on duty at the hospital.

He finished in the middle of the night and returned to work the next morning for a shift at another location and was due to return to the hospital on Wednesday for the night shift.

At the end of the day, he said, I’d rather be busy than be busy.

“The kids say they’re proud of me but I told them I was just doing my job.”

The GoFundMe page was created as a thank you to Darren and three other men who tried to help at the scene, namely Liam Spencer, Richie Kawar and Will Cowan.

A friend of Mr. Kawar’s parents, who tried to put out the burning car, said of his bravery: “I think Rich just thought it was a faulty car on fire, but a member of the audience shouted ‘There’s someone in the back of the cab.'”

Rich thought because he was outside the Women’s Hospital, it must have been a pregnant woman or a baby trapped in the back of that car, so he wanted to rescue her and put out the fires.

He said it was too hot to get close to, and he could hear little pops and thumps, but he still used a whole foam extinguisher to try and put it out. It didn’t make a difference though.

“The car was in a good mess and another car belonging to Will, another security guard, was set on fire and that is a write-off as well.

“I think both guys are already back in business.”

Carolyn Hewitt, who created the fundraising page, wrote: “These guys Darren Knowles, William Spencer, Ritchie Kawar and Will Cowan, all risked their lives on Sunday with their brave, quick-thinking actions.

“I created a gofundme page to raise funds to be shared among the four to give them their courage.

A man in a white shirt is standing next to Richie Kawar’s car, with a fire extinguisher trying to put it out in desperation putting his life at risk.

“Will Cowan is also putting his life at risk to help others and I have also been told that his car is on fire and that his insurance will not pay because it is terrorism-related and is not covered.”

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