Yahoo News Barra teenager still unaccounted for after terror attack as her friend is treated in hospital
A teenager from the Isle of Barra is still missing following the Manchester terror attack while her friend is being treated in hospital.
Eilidh MacLeod, 14, travelled to the concert with her school friend Laura MacIntyre, 15, who was located in hospital nearly 20 hours after the incident.
Eilidh’s parents, Roddy and Marion, are in the city but have had no news of her since the end of the concert when the girls texted Mrs MacLeod to say the last song had started and they would be out soon.
The pair come from a largely Gaelic-speaking community where serious crime is known and were at the concert as a special treat for Eilidh’s birthday. A relative said it was also a reward for their efforts at the island’s 170-pupil community school.
Residents said there was shock and disbelief on the remote island that it had been so tragically caught up in the terrorist attack.
Laura’s parents, Michael, a fish farmer worker, and his wife Margaret, are understood to be at her bedside.
She is being treated for injuries including burns and is said to be in a serious condition. It is thought the girls may have been close to the explosion.
The Rev Dr Lindsay Schluter, the Church of Scotland minister for Barra and South Uist congregations, said it was a small close-knit population and everybody had been affected by the tragedy.
She added: "The events in Manchester and the way they have impacted on two families here has come as a great shock to everyone.
"People have been numbed by what has happened to the two girls and everybody continues to be very anxious about their welfare.
"People in the community have been very supportive of the families, deeply prayerfully so. As one person here has said, ‘Manchester and its people are so much closer to Barra than anyone ever had realised’.”
Barra is at the southern end of the Western Isles archipelago and nearly 75 per cent of the population can speak Gaelic.
Famed for its white sand beaches and its beach airstrip, the island has a population of just over 1,000 and was previously named Britain’s best island community.
The girls are pupils at Castlebay Community School, where pupils could be allowed some dispensation over their exams as a result of the tragedy.
A spokesman for Western Isles Council said it was in talks with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) over the exceptional circumstances for the pupils, many of whom are due to sit exams in the next week.
Meanwhile, more armed officers have been deployed across Scotland for the “forseeable future”.
Police Scotland is also reviewing its plans for major public events, including the Scottish Cup Final this weekend
The Chief Constable, Phil Gormley, said the force would be increasing its operations around the country to protect people, businesses and public places.
He added: ”What we did yesterday morning in the immediate aftermath was substantially increase the number of armed officers available deployed across Scotland particularly to crowded places... We've augmented that through the night," he said.
"We have plans to be able to maintain that for the foreseeable future.”
However, he added that there was no intelligence to suggest a specific threat to Scotland.
