Tourist risked own life to comfort dying boy amid Barcelona attack
A British tourist has described comforting a child during the Barcelona terror attack despite police shouting at him to move to safety.
Harry Athwal said his fatherly instinct kicked in on Thursday as he comforted the helpless boy who was lying on the ground on the Las Ramblas tourist boulevard.
Harry Athwal told the BBC he was not going to leave the boy who looked like his son. Source: Alamy
Sydney boy Julian Cadman was killed in the terror attack on the streets of Barcelona. Picture: Supplied
In a chaotic scene swarming with police and injured victims, Athwal disregarded orders from the police so he could be by the boy's side as he slowly slipped out of consciousness.
It was soon after a van had mowed down innocent bystanders, killing 13 people, including seven-year-old Sydney boy Julian Cadman.
Julian was separated from his badly injured mother Jom in the attack.
The scene was "strewn" with bodies but Athwal said he was determined not to leave the boy, who was about the same age as his son.
"I put my hand on his back,” he told the BBC.
Police told Athwal to move but he said he was not going to cower and run. Source: BBC
Julian's aunty described him as a 'gorgeous boy'. Picture: Supplied
"He was facing face-down and because of the nature of the injuries I did not want to move him.
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"I put my hand on his back and he was not breathing."
Fearing another attack in the same street, a police officer shouted at him to leave.
Athwal told BBC News he was not going to move or leave the child, unless he saw another van or car coming.
Julian lost his life in the attack. Photo: 7 News
"I am not going to let these cowards come back and run over him, not a chance in hell."
He stroked the boy's thick brown hair, which was like his son's, and said a silent prayer for God to please help him.
Julian's mother was separated from her son and taken to hospital in a critical conidtion, undergoing surgery without word from her son. Photo: 7 News
Athwal rejected any suggestion he was a hero saying, in light of recent attacks, "now we have to stand and be counted".
It took authorities three days to confirm Julian had died in the attack.
Terror cell had planned big bomb attack
An Islamist militant cell that used a van to kill 13 people in Barcelona had planned one or several major bomb attacks, possibly against churches or monuments, one suspect has told a Spanish court.
Mohamed Houli Chemlal said the group was led by an imam who tutored its members, mainly young Moroccans, in jihad (holy war) and told them: "Martyrdom is a good thing, according to the Koran."
After a day-long hearing of four suspects in the plot, Spanish High Court Judge Fernando Andreu on Tuesday ordered Chemlal and a second defendant, Driss Oukabir, remanded on charges of membership of a terrorist group and murder.
Spain attacks: What we know
Chemlal was also charged with explosives possession.
A third suspect, Salh El Karib, who ran an internet cafe in a northeastern Spanish town where most of the alleged cell members lived, will remain in police custody for now pending further investigation. The fourth man, Mohamed Aalla, was released on certain conditions.
Police on Monday shot dead 22-year-old Younes Abouyaaqoub, whom they had identified as the driver of the van that careered along the packed Las Ramblas boulevard in Barcelona last Thursday, killing 13 people and injuring 120 from 34 countries.
