A former Fife nurse says a text from a friend saved her life at the Boston marathon bombing.
Charlotte Sturrock, 34, who used to live in Newport, was waiting for runner Laurie Ferguson to finish near the spot where one of the bombs exploded. She moved away after Laurie sent her a message to change their plans.
She said: “If I hadn’t received that text I would have been right on top of the blast and I may not have been here today. It saved my life.”
Charlotte said she had been left “really shaken” by the explosions.
“When we heard the first bomb go off we didn’t take it seriously, but then the second one exploded, the ground shook and we just ran,” she said.
“It was chaos. There was blood everywhere.”
Her close escape came a relief to her mother Alison (64), who still lives in Newport. She had called her daughter after hearing about the deadly attack.
Alison said: “It’s difficult to put into words how worried I was.
“I didn’t know if Charley was injured in the blasts and had no idea what to expect when I called her. It was such a relief to hear her voice. She was still in shock and disbelief about what happened but she knew she’d had a lucky escape.”
Charlotte moved to Arizona eight years ago and now lives in Boston. She is a keen runner and had taken part in the marathon previously, but decided to be a spectator this year.
Alison said: “Charley was waiting for Laurie to finish the race when she got a text saying she was at the other end of the street.
“She walked away to meet her and a few minutes later the bomb went off where she had been standing.
“She said she heard a loud bang and saw smoke where it went off, but it was so busy and chaotic that she wasn’t really sure what was going on.
“Everyone was being told to get out as quickly as they could because they didn’t know if there was going to be any more explosions.”