London, United Kingdom. A recent terrorist attack in downtown London has claimed yet another victim. A Romanian tourist who was knocked into the River Thames from Westminster Bridge during the attack on Britain’s Houses of Parliament more than two weeks ago has died, London police announced Friday.
The tourist was identified as Andreea Cristea who was rescued from the Thames river after the attack, in which a man identified as Khalid Masood drove his rented SUV into pedestrians on the bridge and then fatally stabbed a police officer at the Houses of Parliament. Ms. Cristea’s boyfriend Andrei Burnaz suffered a broken foot in the attack.
Her family and Burnaz described Cristea as “our shining ray of light that will forever keep on shining in our hearts,” and said they would be donating to charity all the money raised to help her since the March 22 attack. The death toll from the attack now stands at five, including the police officer. The attacker was shot dead by police. Dozens more were wounded.
Media video at the time showed Cristea falling into the river during the attack. Witnesses saw her lying face-down in the Thames river before she was rescued and rushed to an emergency room for emergency surgery after being diagnosed with a blood clot on the brain. The boyfriend Andrei Burnaz needed surgery on his foot but has been discharged from the hospital. He was seen in a wheelchair at a memorial service for victims held last week.
London anti-terrorist police have confirmed the 52 year old attacker was a radicalized Islamic terrorist whose motive was to strike at western civilization.