Spain terror attack: UK Sikh wins bravery award

London, March 5

An Indian-origin man, who risked his life to help a fatally injured boy in last year’s Barcelona terror attack, has been selected for this year’s ‘Pride of Birmingham’ award.

Harry Athwal, a project manager from Great Barr area of north-west Birmingham, was in Spain on holiday with friends and family when a terrorist drove a van into pedestrians at Barcelona’s Las Ramblas tourist spot on August 17, 2017, killing 13 persons and injuring hundreds.

He ran to help seven-year-old Julian Alessandro Cadman, who was among those hit, and defied police orders to evacuate the area to keep holding on to him until the emergency services arrived.

The boy, who had dual nationality (British and Australian), died on the spot, but his family have since thanked Athwal for being there for him. “I am a Sikh, and in Sikhism it is my duty to go and help somebody who is hurt or who is being bullied. That, in a sense, overtook me. I didn’t have time to think,” Athwal told the Birmingham Mail.

Athwal is among 11 winners who will be presented awards at a ceremony at the University of Birmingham on March 8. — PTI