A Filipino American marathon runner crossed the finished line just minutes before the first bomb blast detonated, killing three people and injuring 180 others, reports ABS CBN.
“How can such a great event, something so historical for me, turn into such a tragedy?” asked Thomas Zaide.
That’s the same type of questions being asked by nursing student Allyson Lujares who was in the same area working as a volunteer.
“It was hard seeing them (runners) so hopeful and eager to run the race, compared to the faces that they had of fear, running for their lives,” said Lujares.
It was also anxious times for many family members of runners. The family of Ajith Pai searched several hours for him, separated by the finish line they could not cross because it had become a crime scene, reports Silicon India News.
“They were on the other side of the finish line. They wouldn’t allow them to come where we were,” said Pai.