A survivor of the Westminster attack has described how he did not even have time to react before he was “thrown almost like a ragdoll” over the bonnet of Khalid Masood’s car bonnet on Westminster Bridge.
Travis Frain, 19, said he had been crossing the Thames with friends after watching prime minister’s questions when one of them spotted Masood’s 4x4 Hyundai Tucson speeding towards them. “I was texting someone at the time and one of my friends said: ‘Travis, look,’” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
“I didn’t really have time to react. My body didn’t have time to tense up and was thrown almost like a ragdoll over the bonnet. I landed on the left side and my head was actually cushioned by a friend … whereas obviously, if it had landed on the concrete with the same force that the rest of my body had we don’t know what could have happened.”
Frain was one of more than 50 people injured in Masood’s rampage on 22 March. Five other people died, including the police officer Keith Palmer. Police made 12 arrests across the country before concluding that Masood, 52, who was shot dead by armed police, had acted alone.
American tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, retired window cleaner Leslie Rhodes, 75, Spanish mother Aysha Frade, 44, and Romanian tourist Andreea Cristea, 31, were also killed.
Frain said he had only blurred memories of the moments following the attack: he recalls walking around and picking up his phone before he “just blacked out”.
The politics and history student at Edge Hill University, in Lancashire, had emergency surgery after breaking his leg, arm and fingers. His arm will remain in a cast and his leg in a brace for several months.
Nevertheless, he said he felt “very lucky”. During his convalescence at King’s College hospital, he was visited by the Prince of Wales, a moment he shared with friends on his Facebook page.
“It was really nice of him,” he said. “He was actually quite laid back and asked how I was doing.”
Frain said he had revisited Westminster Bridge twice since the attack, and insisted that the trauma of his experience would not discourage him from visiting London. “I wanted to see it again,” he said. “It’s not going to put me off London. As weird as it is, life goes on.”
