Chilling Audio From Immediate Aftermath Of Boston Bombings Released
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Dramatic calls among emergency responders immediately after the Boston Marathon bombings were released Friday.
The transmissions are another view of how well Boston's emergency services agencies responded to the April attack, CBS 2's Andrea Grymes reported.
Just 10 seconds after the first explosion, the EMS radio started lighting up.
"Something just exploded at the finish line," one emergency worker said.
Then a second bomb was detonated.
"All units, extreme caution," a man warns.
The wounded were soon moved to a media tent.
"Prepare to receive patients at the Alpha Tent," a man says.
About two and a half minutes after the explosions, clues about the scope of the tragedy became evident in a communication by Incident Commander James Hooley.
"Would you notify all the hospitals that there's the potential here for a mass-casualty event," he says. "We need triage tents brought up to the scene. We probably have at least, I'd say, 40 patients."
A few victims were found a considerable distance from the bombing sites. They apparently had tried to flee to safety. Others were too injured to do so.
"Bilateral leg amputation. We're on our way to the Alpha Tent," a responder says.
Emergency workers cleared the area of victims in just 18 minutes.
"There were a lot of patients there that in any other circumstance very likely would have not survived," a Boston EMS superintendent-in-chief told CBS 2.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, is accused in the April 15 blasts that killed three people and injured more than 260. After the attack, officials said he and his brother planned to come to New York City to detonate their remaining explosives in Times Square, but they were unable to carry out their attack.
Tsarnaev was captured alive on April 19 after a massive manhunt. He has pleaded not guilty to 30 counts, including use of a weapon of mass destruction to kill. His brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, an alleged co-conspirator, was killed in a shootout with police April 18.
Prosecutors said the Tsarnaevs, who are Muslim, carried out the attack to retaliate against the U.S. government for "killing innocent civilians," quoting a note written by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev shortly before his capture.
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