A COUPLE from Bradford have told of how they pulled Freya Lewis, a Holmes Chapel student, from the Manchester Arena following Monday night’s blast.

Year Nine pupil Freya had been at the Ariana Grande concert with her friend Nell Jones, who tragically died at the scene, but was able to stagger towards the exit following the blast.

After collapsing into the arms of Phil and Kim Dick and drifting in and out of consciousness, she was taken to hospital and underwent ten-and-a-half hours of surgery for serious injuries and is recovering in hospital.

Nick Lewis, Freya’s dad, said: “Our situation is impossible to describe, but the amazing support that everyone has shown us has been breathtaking. After ten-and-a-half hours in surgery she is stable.

“The staff at the hospital have been incredible. Freya has been sewn, bolted, drilled and bandaged back together. It is going to be a long climb but we are on the first step. We really know how much you all care.

“Our priority now is to concentrate on our children and to make sense of what has happened.

“We have some very personal conversations to have with people we had never met until what seems just a few hours ago and thank you feels so inadequate.

“We are working closely with Freya’s school and are therefore asking for everyone to please respect our privacy as a family.”

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Wednesday, Mr and Mrs Dick recalled the harrowing moments after the bomb went off in the arena foyer.

Mrs Dick said: “It was so quick, and a little girl was just staggering towards me and I thought she was going to fall.

“She was covered in blood and she just collapsed in my arms. I pulled her and dragged her out, and got her down on the floor through the doors.

“She kept closing her eyes and I was talking to her. We just lay there, sat there on the floor.”

The couple were able to keep Freya conscious and call for emergency services, as well as contacting her family to let them know what had happened.