Walsh
The Prime Minister spent nearly half-an-hour inspecting the Hillsborough ground, looking in detail at the Lepping Lane stand where the deaths and injuries occurred. She walked down the tunnel along which many hundreds of fans had poured as yesterday's game started trapping those ahead of them. Addressing upwards of two hundred journalists, photographers and camera crews, Mrs. Thatcher described it as a disaster of colossal proportions - even greater than the Bradford fire. The Prime Minister said there would be a major public inquiry, which would find all the facts. But she warred against making judgments on partial evidence. Mrs. Thatcher said the legislation regarding safety at sports grounds would be reviewed, with the inquiry pointing the right course for the future:
Thatcher Act
“You have seen these terraces for yourself. And you have seen what happens. I've been in crowds when we've had demonstrations. If you get a whole crush of people coming in, the ones at the front wanting them not to come forward and the ones at the back coming forward, you're swept off your feet. You lose control. And that obviously is something to which the inquiry will address its mind and we'll obviously have to be very thorough, but I hope they will be able to give some preliminary results so that we can learn, very quickly, for the next season. So we won't have any hesitation, we have no difficulty in the House of Commons in putting through any legislation.
Walsh
Mrs. Thatcher said she felt deeply for all the bereaved. Everything you do is for your family, she said, and all of a sudden the centre of your life is gone and there is an enormous emptiness. The Home Secretary will be giving details of the public inquiry in the Commons tomorrow afternoon. He said there would clearly be lessons to be learned. Adding that the use of [end p1]
[discontinuity]Bowes
A total of seventeen people are still in intensive care, most described as being in a poorly condition, although some are critically ill. The effect of being crushed, at one point under several layers of bodies, means many people are still having difficulty breathing. Mr. David Baldwin, the General Manager of Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital, described the conditions of some of the patients:
Baldwin Act
“We have, at the present time, six patients in the intensive care unit and we have two in the neurosurgical unit.”
Bowes
How badly are they injured?
Baldwin Act
“The injuries would vary from brain injuries to multiple limb injuries. And a lot depends upon how, obviously they respond to the intensive nursing and medical treatment they receive over the next few days. As yet, it's too early to say how they'll progress, but obviously they're under intensive care.”
Bowes
Many of the medical staff have been working almost continuously ever since yesterday's tragic accident. Relatives, mostly from Liverpool, have been arriving at the hospitals where dozens of social workers have been helping them come to terms with what happened. Mrs. Thatcher's visits were welcomed at both hospitals. Afterwards, the Prime Minister talked of how some people had given artificial resuscitation to others before collapsing themselves. She … [gap in text] courage. It was, she said, a story of true heroism.